Sometimes Love Just Isn't Enough
by xXbrokensmileXx24
Summary: Will and Sonny are two teenagers struggling with inner demons and neither are aware of the other's struggle until one fateful event changed their lives and realize their true feelings. Lies and manipulations compounded by insecurities cause rash decisions resulting in heartache for these lovers. Will the truth be revealed in time to save the love they share or will all be lost?
1. Chapter 1: Sonny's Intro

**A/N: **This is my first WilSon fanfic ever. I got the idea to write it because sometimes fanfics unfortunately seem to follow a certain pattern and/or storyline a lot so I want to make it as original as possible. A few things you should know right off the bat: **NO **Brian, Neil or Gabi (you're welcome); Nick is a friend (well, cousin and friend) not an enemy; some characters of the past that were hardly used on the show and fics **WILL **return and play important parts in this story, not just making cameo appearances from time to time; Sami and Rafe NEVER happened; the characterization of Will and Sonny are a little different than the show (wanted to explore new options); Sonny has never travelled around the world, only travelled and lived in Dubai. Can't really think of anything else to say except that I will be making references to what has been said in earlier chapters as the story progresses and I'll be posting the chapters of the references if you want to refer back to it.

**Warning:** This fic is going to be pretty angsty later on and definitely not for the faint of heart. Lots of drama for WilSon but have faith!

P.S: There's going to be a lot of shameless smut because they _are_ in high school (and later, college) after all so it's to be expected lol. When writing some of the high school scenes, it may be a little off from how high school is right now but don't blame me cuz I graduated in 2006 so yea, i'm just gonna write it how I remember it. Lastly, I hope you enjoy! =)

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**Chapter 1**

It is August, nearly the end of summer vacation, which meant that school would be starting up again very soon. Usually most students would be extremely annoyed at the fact that summer is now over and they'd have to try surviving yet another year of learning, homework, staying awake through boring lectures, studying, more homework, teachers acting like dictators, high school drama, making new friends, fitting in and passing all classes. That's already too much to handle for any student. There are some students who also have the added pressure of, not only adjusting to their surroundings at a new school, but also making friends when you have the stigma of being "the new kid."

This was the case for Sonny Kiriakis, whose family has lived in Chicago for most of his life. Sonny was an honor roll student in his second year of high school, an excellent baseball player for his high school's team, surrounded by lots of friends, had a gorgeous girlfriend named Emily and was always looked up to by fellow classmates. There was just one small problem; Sonny wasn't happy. He was truly living a life that most people would envy. Until one day, Sonny inexplicably ended things with Emily after only being with her for 3 month and slowly became awkward around people he used to hang out with all the time.

It is mid August and Sonny's change in attitude not getting any better. He has gone to play baseball with his friends but he seemed a little distant sometimes. It's like he built an invisible wall between him and everyone else. This hasn't gone unnoticed by his parents, Justin and Adrienne Kiriakis.

"Justin, what is happening to our son? He never used to be this way" commented a worried Adrienne, as she saw Sonny sulking up the stairs to go into his room.

"I know what you mean but cut him some slack. Maybe he's still affected by his break up with Emily. You saw that they were always attached at the hip. They were happy together. He just needs time to get over it," Justin reassured her.

"That's what bothers me," Adrienne says.

"Adrienne, we can't _make_ him forget about her, just so he can be his old self again," Justin said, frustrated.

"That's not what I meant."

"Well, what did you mean then? I don't understand what point you're trying to make."

"You said they were attached at the hip and seemed happy together. I'm wondering why they broke up in the first place. Sonny never told us and I didn't want to pressure him. He was already having a hard enough time as it is."

"You're right, that does seem rather odd but we can't pressure him. He'll come to us when he's ready."

"I hope you're right," Adrienne says, as she sees Sonny coming down the stairs. "Hey Sonny, your father has great news to share with you!"

"Hey mom and dad, what's up? What's this 'great news' you wanted to share?" Sonny asked impatiently.

"While at the grocery store, I bumped into Lawrence, my best friend from law school. We were catching up; talking about life, our families, our jobs and other things. Well, he mentioned that he was looking for a partner for his law office and asked me if I was interested. I accepted. There's only one issue though."

"What's that?" Sonny asked.

"Lawrence's office is in Salem so we would have to move there soon. How do you feel about that?"

"Oh my God! Dad, that's amazing news! Congratulations! How soon do we leave?"

"In two weeks so you have enough time to get settled before school starts. I'll tell Uncle Victor to see if he can help get you registered while we start packing."

"I can't to tell Abigail! She's going to be so excited!" Sonny beamed and ran up the stairs again.

"Well that went better than I thought it would," said Justin.

"Maybe Sonny will finally be able to find happiness in Salem," said Adrienne.

Within the two weeks before they had to move, the Kiriakis family kept busy, mainly by packing their things in boxes and Justin getting all of his legal affairs in order. On the final day, the movers loaded the boxes into a truck, was provided by Uncle Victor. Sonny went to the baseball field where he always played baseball with his friends so they can all say their final goodbyes. They wish Sonny the best, hassle him to keep in touch and left. One of his closest friends, a tall, raven haired guy with hazel eyes, named Jaime, stayed behind to hang out with Sonny one last time.

"I'm gonna miss hanging out with you, dude. It sucks that I'm gonna be losing my best friend," Jaime said.

"You're not gonna lose me though. We can still video chat on Skype," Sonny offered.

"That is so not the same and you know it."

"Ok ok, you're right. We'll work it out somehow. Anyway, I have to go. My parents said I have to be home at 2…" Sonny checks his cell phone for the time. "…and it's 2:32. Oh fuck, I can't believe I'm late! My parents are gonna kill me! I gotta go but text me so we won't lose touch!" Sonny says as he hugs Jaime and runs off.

When he was about two blocks away from the field, he stopped running. He actually had to be home by 3 PM but Jaime didn't need to know that. Sonny loves Jaime as a friend and he was the only friend who was really there for him. Sonny appreciated that more than anything but he always felt something weird between them. There was always a weird vibe that Sonny couldn't really explain. All he knew is that it kind of terrified him.

As he arrived at his house, he saw his parents standing in front of it and staring, taking a last look at the house they've lived in for many years. Sonny joins them and takes it all in. They do a group hug and Justin tells Adrienne and Sonny to get in the car so they can leave, instead of prolonging their sadness by looking at the house that was filled with so many memories.

As they all got in the car and started driving away, Sonny says, "Salem, here we come!"


	2. Chapter 2: Sonny meets with Abby

**Chapter 2**

Hours of driving, countless stops, and a few annoying 'are we there, yet's later, they finally arrived in Salem. They pull up to Uncle Victor's mansion and park the car. By the time they got there, the moving truck already arrived and started unloading their things and bringing it into the mansion. They stepped out of the car; got the bags they brought with them in the car and made their way to the front door, where they were greeted by Uncle Victor and Maggie. They hugged, exchanged pleasantries, and commented on how much Sonny has grown since the last time they've seen him at the mansion. Sonny was spared of the cheek pinching. For now. Since it was already late and the movers finished bringing the last of the boxes into the mansion, they called it a night because of the exhausting car ride.

The next morning, Victor, Maggie, Justin, Adrienne and Sonny were having breakfast together and talking about various topics and got caught up on what's been going on in each other's lives. Sonny was already feeling the pressure because he knew the bombardment of questions was coming. Questions that Sonny himself didn't have the answers to. Sonny wanted—no, _needed_—to get out of here before the incessant questions were directed towards him.

"So Sonny, how have you been lately? I was told you took it pretty badly when you broke up with Emily. Why things end so abruptly between you two? Did she cheat on you?" Maggie asked.

_Too late_, Sonny thought. Trying to think fast, Sonny quickly stood up and said, "Um…I'm fine, just a little sad that I had to leave Jaime and the rest of my friends but I'll survive. Now, if you all would excuse me, I'm late for meeting Abby so I gotta go. Love you all!" Sonny couldn't get out of there fast enough and practically ran out of the door.

Sonny didn't really feel bad for running out so abruptly because, this time, he really _was_ late. _Dammit, I can't believe I actually overslept. It was probably not the best idea to text Jaime until 2 a.m. What was I thinking? I should've just ignored h—_" Sonny quickly snapped out of his thoughts as soon as he heard his phone ringing and saw Abby's name on the screen.

"Hey Abby. Look, I know I'm late right now but I'm almost there," he answers.

"Hey punk! No, you don't have to rush. The funny thing is, I was calling to let you know that I was gonna be about 30 minutes late," Abby says.

"Thanks for letting me know. Is everything ok though?"

"Yeah, I just had to help my mom, but I'm already about to get dressed."

"You're getting dressed NOW? I guess we won't be hanging out this century, with how long you take to get ready," Sonny teased.

"Ha. Ha. You're hilarious," Abby sarcastically responded. "Anyway, I'm dying to see you again and show you around. It'll be fun to catch up!"

"Ok well, I'm apparently Horton Town Square right now so I'll just wait for you on the um, couch? Why is there a random couch in the town square?" Sonny asked, raising an eyebrow.

"A lot has changed since the last time you visited, huh?" Abby shakes her head while laughing.

"Definitely. Anyway, I'll let you go so you can supposedly finish everything in 30 minutes."

"You got jokes today, don't you? Ok, I'll see you in a few."

They both hang up. After Sonny sits down on the couch, he goes through his phone to pass time, while listening to music on his iPod. _Free Wi-Fi? Sweet!_ About 45 minutes passed and Abby made her way to the couch. Sonny looked up from his phone after seeing someone taking a seat right next to him and saw that Abby finally arrived.

"Abby!" Sonny said as he reached over to her and pulled her into a tight hug. "It's been such a long time."

"I know! I've missed you so much! You're looking really good, Sonny. I bet you had all the girls going after you back in Chicago."

"Hardly. But if there were then they didn't really do anything about it, except for Emily but it didn't work out," Sonny immediately regretted mentioning Emily. To avoid any possible questioning, he changed the subject, "So, do you have a special someone in your life?"

"I know what you did there but I'll let it slide for now. And yes, I do have a special someone. His name is Chad," she said, giving a shy smile.

"That's great! Tell me about him," Sonny said with a sigh of relief.

"Well, he's funny, smart, ridiculously gorgeous, kind and very thoughtful. I don't know, I can't explain it because words don't do him justice," beamed Abby.

"Does he treat you right? Are you really happy with him?"

Abby could hardly control smiling widely and said, "Of course he does! And yes, I'm really happy when I'm with him."

"I can tell. Your face lit up when you were describing him. You've got it bad. I'm really happy for you. So when do I get to meet the lucky guy that has made my dear cousin so happy?"

"He's probably at the lake with a few others setting up for the picnic. We're gonna celebrate the last day before school takes over our lives again."

As Sonny and Abby continue catching up with what's been going on in each other's lives, they didn't realize someone was watching them in the distance. The stranger stayed hidden in the background to not draw attention to themselves as they crept closer to Sonny and Abby, who were sitting close to each other, laughing and having a great time just talking. As soon as the stranger saw Abby and Sonny hugging, the stranger decided to quickly leave Horton Town Square before anyone noticed the stranger's presence. Then moments later, after pulling away from the hug, Sonny thought he saw someone familiar leaving Horton Town Square in a hurry but brushed it off when he noticed someone else who seemed to know Abby but was unfamiliar to him. He decided to bring it to Abby's attention.

Sonny looked at Abby and said, "Apparently we have an audience. There's some weird guy staring at us. Do you know him?"

Abby turned around to see who it was, jumped out of the couch and said, "Hey you! Come over here, I want you to meet someone!"


	3. Chapter 3: Will and Sonny meet

**Chapter 3**

Sonny begins to relax a little now that the person staring was indeed someone Abby knew. However, Sonny still can't shake the feeling of being watched but tries to ignore it. As the guy walks towards Sonny and Abby, Sonny could sense the guy was a bit defensive toward him but had no idea why.

Once he arrived, Abby said, "Relax, there's nothing going on between us. I'd like to introduce you to Jackson Kiriakis. He's my adorable cousin."

"Hey man, what's up? You can just call me Sonny. And Abby, I _told_ you to never call guys 'adorable.' Puppies are adorable. We're men, dammit!"

"I agree! Abigail calls me that a lot and I'm just here like, 'what happened to being called hot and sexy,' you know? Anyway, it's very nice to finally meet you Sonny. Abigail has been talking about you nonstop for weeks. I'm Chad, by the way," said Chad, holding out his hand for Sonny to shake.

"Ahh so _you're_ the famous Chad. Abby has also talked about you all week. Nice to finally meet you, man," Sonny said while shaking Chad's outstretched hand.

"Yup, that would be me. Hopefully she's been saying good things." Chad stated then turned to Abby. "Hey babe, we need to go right now so we can start setting up for the picnic at the lake"

"I thought you, T and Melanie were going to handle it. That's why I asked Sonny to hang out for a bit so I can show him around and catch up."

"Mel couldn't make it because she was called in to work so I'll pretty much be setting up on my own because you know how much of a douche T is, especially if he sees a hot girl." Chad shrugs and Abby nods her head in agreement. "You should come with us Sonny. It's the last day of freedom; we might as well enjoy it while we still can."

"Sounds like fun. What should I bring?" asked Sonny.

"Actually, can you pick up the food from Brady Pub? I already paid for it, all you have to do is pick it up. Just tell them I sent you," said Abby

"Alright, I'll meet you guys at the lake then."

They said their goodbyes and went separate ways to complete their tasks. Sonny remembers passing by the Brady Pub on his way to Horton Town Square so he was able to find it with relative ease. He opens the door and walks up to the counter to get Abby's order. The cashier said it's going to take a few more minutes because it was a big order. The cashier asked Sonny if he wanted anything while he waits and Sonny remembers practically running out of the house so fast, he barely got to drink his coffee so he decided to order a large cup of coffee. Sonny paid the cashier when she handed him the cup and pointed to the coffee station. Sonny poured the coffee and took a seat at a nearby table.

While enjoying the caffeine fix, he noticed one of the waiters walking over another table where two other guys were seated and started having a conversation with them. That blond haired, blue eyed waiter caught Sonny's attention and made him feel something he's never felt before, a feeling he couldn't explain. He felt an uneasiness around Jaime but what he was feeling right now was completely different. This feeling made him feel special somehow and that made him smile. _An attraction, maybe?_ He also feels a little nervous around the blond waiter even though he hasn't even acknowledged Sonny's presence. This feeling never happened with Emily, which made him question whether he ever really felt anything for her in the first place. Sonny kept wondering how he can be more affected by the presence of this guy than the whole time he was with Emily.

Lost in thought, Sonny didn't realize he was staring directly at the blond waiter, and still smiling, so he quickly looked away but the blond waiter noticed and was making his way towards the table_. Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck! What do I do now? How do I explain staring at him AND smiling while doing so? Ok calm down, just tell him he seemed familiar and I couldn't help but stare. Or I was daydreaming and happen to be staring in his direction but not at him directly. Ok, good plan._

The blond waiter reached the table, but before he could say anything, Sonny blurted out, "I was staring at you because you reminded me of someone familiar….while daydreaming?" _Damn! Why did I just combine both excuses?! This hot guy must think I'm an idiot. Wait, did I just say he was HOT?! Oh my God, what's wrong with me? _Sonny face becomes a deep shade of red at the thought.

"Really? Um...I actually wasn't aware you were staring at me. I just came over to see if you needed anything else," said the blond waiter awkwardly.

"Oh my God! Well this is awkward."

"You know, it's funny when people say that because it just makes a conversation even more awkward," the blond waiter attempts to lighten the mood with humor.

"You're right…" Sonny chuckled before continuing, "…if only you weren't so distractingly—"

"Distractingly what?"

Sonny looks around nervously and said, "…familiar. I should stop talking before you start thinking I'm a stalker."

The blond waiter couldn't help but laugh, which made Sonny blush even more. Wanting to make Sonny feel better, the blond waiter says, "Ok, why don't we try a different approach. Let's pretend this awkwardness never happened and start over."

"Yes please."

"Hello there, I'm Will" he said with an outstretched hand and a friendly smile.

"I'm Sonny." Sonny shook his hand and as he pulled away a little, he felt Will tighten his grip slightly before reluctantly letting go.

Will felt a spark when Sonny grabbed his hand. He couldn't explain what it meant. All he knew was that he wanted this feeling to last forever. "It's very nice to meet you, Sonny. By the way, are you new in town? I ask because it's a small town and I haven't seen you around before."

"I actually moved here yesterday. It seems like a nice town so far. Still don't understand that random couch in the town square though."

"Ha! Yeah, it's random but comfortable so it's all good. So do you know anyone in town, you know, besides yours truly?" Will said with a smirk.

"Just my cousin Abby and I met her boyfriend, Chad, not too long ago."

"Wait a minute; Abby is your cousin too? Chad's a great guy."

"We probably need to ask Abby about that. And yes he is. He invited me to their picnic."

"They invited me too but I don't know if I'll be able to go since I'm working right now. Those guys over there decided to keep me company until my shift was over, even though I told them to go and have fun at the picnic without me. Come, I'll introduce you," Will said as he grabbed Sonny's hand and pulled him to the table, blushing at the feeling of Sonny's hand in his and smiling when he felt Sonny tightening his grip on Will's hand.


	4. Chapter 4: Will's friends meet Sonny

**Chapter 4**

As soon as Will grabbed Sonny's hand, Sonny began panicking internally, but not because another guy grabbed his hand. Sonny was panicking because he didn't want to pull his hand away. In fact, Sonny really loves holding Will's hand so much that he tightens his grip just to savor the feeling, and that really scares him. He's not sure if it's normal for him to be this giddy over a simply hand hold with another man. Sonny keeps comparing his entire relationship with Emily and his few minutes with Will to try to understand what's going on with him. The short walking distance from one side of the pub to the other seemed so much longer as his mind raced with so many questions.

Will and Sonny arrive at the table the two guys were seated and having a conversation. Will stepped up to them and said, "Hey guys, I want you both to meet Sonny. He just moved here yesterday." Pointing to one of the guys, he says, "Sonny, this is my best friend, Kareem. He apparently likes to be called 'tall, dark and handsome' because it makes him feel sexy."

"Damn straight it does! And mysterious too. People like mysterious dudes. Hey Sonny, it's nice to meet you." Kareem says with a smile.

"I'm glad to see you're not a complete tool in front of someone new, Kareem," Will joked. They all laugh.

"Hey! Watch it Horton!" Kareem said in mock indignation.

Pointing to the other guy at the table, Will teases, "And this right here is my cousin, Nick. He's kind of a 'know-it-all' and it doesn't help that he really does know it all. He's kind of a genius and really dweeby."

"Hey Sonny, how are you?" Nick asks.

"I'm good, man. Thanks for asking. And yourself?"

"Can't complain. Well actually, I can complain about how Will is being a jerk but he was born that way so it can't be helped."

"Sonny, why don't you sit with us? The more, the merrier!" Will suggested. He goes to grab a chair from another table when he realizes he's been holding Sonny's hand the whole time. He felt a little embarrassed but realized this meant Sonny didn't mind their hands being held. He lets go of Sonny's hand as he grabbed a chair from another table and brought it to their table for Sonny to sit.

Sonny was a little disappointed about Will taking his hand away but doesn't allow it to show. "Thanks. It's really nice of you guys to invite me to sit with you. Are people in this town always this friendly?"

"It's really no problem. Yeah, the people here are friendly for the most part. But actually, Will was looking at you for a while and commented on how he hated seeing you sitting by yourself so Nick and I suggested he go over and invite you to sit with us," Kareem said.

"Really? He was looking at me for a while?" Sonny tries to stifle his laughter, making Will blush.

"Yup, why do you ask?" Kareem is confused when he notices Will is blushing. "Am I missing something?"

"When he walked up to me and I proceeded to make an ass of myself, he said he didn't even notice I was staring but apparently he's been looking at me the whole time," Sonny looks at Will and started laughing, which made Will blush even more and put his head down. "You guys were right; he really is a jerk!"

"Okay fine but I did make you feel better after your embarrassment though. I can't say the same for you right now," Will pouted.

"You're right, I'm sorry. How can I make it up to you?"

Will pondered for a brief moment before answering, "How about you give me your number and I'll let you know." Will is surprised at his own boldness and really hopes he didn't end up scaring Sonny away.

Sonny's heart races when he hears Will's last statement but tries to control his nervousness and answers, "Um….sure, give me your phone."

Will pulls his phone out of his pocket and hands it to Sonny. As Sonny is trying to type his information on Will's phone—and making lots of typos in the process due to nervousness—he wonders what it is about Will that makes him so nervous and why he's overly excited at the prospect of getting to know Will better now that they can text. Sonny feels himself smiling at the thought that Will may be interested in him enough to ask him for his number, despite barely knowing each other.

Kareem and Nick look at each other, amused at the nervousness both Will and Sonny are feeling, despite their attempts at hiding it. Nick wants to tease Will and Sonny for not noticing their obvious attraction for each other but decides not to do it because if Will was even remotely interested in Sonny, Nick didn't want his sarcasm to ruin Will's chances.

"All done!" Sonny proudly states as he places the phone in Will's hand and accidentally grazes his hand with Will's hand in the process. _There's that incredible feeling again. _Sonny thought as he pulled his hand away.

Will was about to say something when he was interrupted by someone saying rather loudly, "Excuse me sir, your order is ready!" It was the cashier signaling for Sonny. Will looks as Sonny gets up from his chair and goes to the counter to pick up the food.

With the bags finally in hand, Sonny makes his way to the table and says, "I'm really sorry guys but I have to go right now. It's been a pleasure meeting you all. Hope to see you guys around." Sonny shakes Nick's hand, then Kareem's hand and now Will's hand. This time it was Sonny who squeezed his hand slightly and lingered, relishing the feeling of Will's hand on his. Then reluctantly pulls his hand away.

With that, Sonny was out the door. Then, Kareem and Nick look at each other and burst out in laugher over the situation and decide to tease Will as payback for teasing them in front of Sonny.

"Damn Will, you're not subtle at all," Nick chuckled.

"The phone number thing was a smooth move though, I'll give you that. Very slick of you. Clearly you've learned from the best," Kareem teases as he gestures brushing dirt off his shoulder.

"What are you guys talking about? The phone number thing just slipped out," Will pretends to not make a big deal out of it but on the inside, he's excitedly doing a victory dance after successfully getting Sonny's number, _without_ scaring him away. _Score_.

"How about the hand holding? Don't tell us that you suddenly forgot about that too," Nick teased.

"That was totally not on purpose. I really did forget about still holding his hand when we got to the table."

"Don't give us that sorry excuse. You totally had a dorky smile on your face and were blushing the whole time. Then you proceeded to use us as a way to impress him with your unfunny jokes. Not cool, by the way but we forgive you because it was for your first crush on a guy," says Nick with a smirk. "And since I'm a know-it-all, that means my conclusions are correct."

"Yeah, not to mention the fact that you put his chair very close to yours. You also kept sneaking a peek at him every chance you got" Kareem chuckles. "Don't think I didn't notice that, mister."

"Ok fine, I admit that Sonny caught my attention the way no other guy has ever been able to but that doesn't mean I have a _crush_ on him," Will says with a hint of doubt in his voice. "Does it?"

"Will, you're ridiculous. That's exactly what a crush is so quit denying it!" Nick says frustrated.

"In all honesty though, you really do seem happier than we've ever seen you before. We've been around you a lot so we know what we're talking about," explains Kareem and Nick agrees.

"You guys do realize we just met _literally_ a few minutes ago. How could you guys possibly think I'm that happy over one meeting?"

"Oh my God Will, you've said before you were bisexual so why are you making this into such a big deal?!" Nick says. "Being bisexual entails being into both genders and you've already accepted that you might be into guys. I still think labels are stupid because love is love, regardless of gender but whatever."

"I've never had any experiences with a guy so how would I know if I'm actually into guys? I usually don't feel any spark when I kiss girls but it's probably because I haven't found the right one yet. I don't know, this is too confusing," Will says covering his face with his hands.

"I know but Sonny could be 'the one' for you and you'll never know because you're too busy overanalyzing everything. You owe it to yourself to give it a shot if it means you could find happiness for the first time in your life. Judging by the fact that Sonny actually held your hand the whole time and was nervous around you, I'd say he wants to get to know you as well," Kareem continues, "Just give Sonny a chance. Get to know him better. And if it doesn't work out, well, you still have him as a friend so it's a win-win."

"Alright fine, I'll try to talk to him more. You guys are ridiculous. We literally just met and you guys are saying we're soul mates. Plus, if Sonny really was my soul mate or whatever then he would walk through that door right now and whisk me away to the lake," stated Will confidently, thinking it would be impossible for that to happen.

Just as Will finishes his statement, they hear the door chimes and look towards the door to see who walked in. Will's eyes widen when he realizes it was Sonny. Will shakes his head in disbelief, "Well I'll be damned. This proves nothing!" Kareem and Nick are laughing hysterically.

Sonny walks up to their table again and nervously says, "Hello again, sorry to bother you guys but after leaving here a few minutes ago, I was walking towards Horton Town Square when I realized that I had absolutely no idea where the lake was. Can one of you guys give me directions?" Sonny looks at Will and continues, "I would've called you but I realized you never gave me your number, hence why I'm here."

"Oh, sorry about that. I'll call your phone right now so you can save my number. In the meantime, maybe Kareem or Nick can take you to the lake. I would but my shift isn't over yet."

Will's great grandma, Caroline, walked from the kitchen to the main floor and overheard Will talking about not being able to go to the lake. She walks up to the table and says, "Will, why don't you go? By the time the pub gets busy again, your shift would already be over. You should enjoy this beautiful day while you still can."

"Are you sure? Because I can stay, I don't mind."

"You weren't even supposed to be working today. You came here to volunteer your help and I appreciate it so yes, I'm sure. Go ahead and have fun with your friends."

"Thanks grandma." Will hugs her, then looks Sonny, Kareem and Nick and says, "I guess it's finally time for the lake!"

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A/N: Yes, I know what you're thinking (or maybe not but that's besides the point)... "OMG Will's bisexual?!" Well, as I have said before (mostly to my twitter friends), I wanted to explore new ideas and trying to make this fic as unique as possible so it doesn't fall under the same cliché scenarios. Anyway, after the incident with girl-who-shall-not-be-named and Will after Will and Sonny first kissed on the show, ****_she_**** asked him if he was bisexual. That's where my idea came from. Some people who are confused with their sexuality tend to think they MAY be bisexual so I kind of wanted to go down that route with Will. Also, I wanted to depict a confused, insecure, and guarded Sonny, as opposed to the confident Sonny from the show; and I wanted give him a past for crying out loud! Not enough fics give poor Sonny a past (which we'll be seeing more of later on) and it kinda makes it hard to relate and get to know him. On the show, Sonny mentioned how insecure and guarded he was when Will was asking him questions about coming out so I wanted to portray that concept as best I can.**

So...thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the rollercoaster ride of a fic that this will end up being. =)


	5. Chapter 5: The Lake

**Extremely long update. You guys don't mind, do you? LOL anyway, enjoy!**

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**Chapter 5**

Will, Sonny, Kareem and Nick quickly stop by Will's apartment so he can get his swim trunks and other essentials for the car ride to the lake. Once he has everything, they make their way to the car, put their belongings in the trunk and they all get in the car. Of course Nick and Kareem quickly get in the back seat, which would make Sonny have no choice but to sit in the front with Will. He subtly shakes his head at them for trying to play matchmaker for him and Sonny but, in his mind, he was secretly thanking them for it.

Before driving off, the confident blond declares with a smirk, "So, since I'm the driver, I get to pick what music we listen to, BUT…" he looks over to Sonny and continues, "…since you're new here, I'll let you pick the music."

"Sonny, you just saved us all from having to listen to Foster the People, MGMT, Asteroid Crush, Sleeping with Sirens and other random bands. You're a life saver!" Nick says but then adds, "Unless you're also into that type of music."

"Hey man, Asteroid Crush's music is the true meaning of an eargasm!" Sonny exclaims. As soon as he said this, Will beamed and high fives him.

"Sonny must have great taste in music if he loves Asteroid Crush. You're officially the DJ whenever I drive. So do you like any of the other bands Nick mentioned?"

"Actually, I'm not really into alt rock. I'm more of a hip hop and rap fan. Although I really love Skrillex," Sonny said.

"Uh oh," Kareem said as he placed his hand on Will's shoulder. "Will, don't freak out."

"Freak out?" Sonny asked.

"But he just said those bands were alt rock. One does not simply let that go _especially_ when talking about Foster the People!" Will says, as he stops the car for the red light and looks at Sonny. "You're lucky you're new and I happen to like you, which is why I haven't revoked your DJ privileges." He looks at Sonny then smirks.

"Thanks, I feel honored that you would let me be the DJ. Maybe I'll broaden your musical horizons to bands people have actually _heard_ of," Sonny smirks back.

"Just because a band or artist is mainstream, doesn't make them good. Case and point: Justin Bieber. So there!" Will sticks his tongue out at Sonny, "…BUT, you might be able to change my opinion if the song talks about literally anything meaningful, and nothing obnoxious like them getting 'bitches' and having sex with them."

"Wow Sonny, Will must really like you a lot if he'll actually consider giving your music a try because he kind of HATES rap and hip hop," Kareem says.

"Let's just say, Will has a 'special' taste in music. Not many people really even know half the bands he likes. He likes some band from New Zealand, whose music isn't even available online yet. That's how unknown they are," Nick said.

"Some of those bands actually are good though. Will and I are huge fans of Foster the People," Kareem said but noticed that Will has been staring at Sonny with a smile on his face and ignored the light that's in front of them. "Um...Will? The traffic light has been green for like the past minute already."

"Oh. Um...right. I knew that," Will said as he quickly looked away from Sonny to focus on driving.

Sonny was amazed that he could get lost in Will's bright blue eyes and finds himself wanting to stare into them again. For the first time in a long time, Sonny feels like he can maybe take down a few bricks from his wall, especially after the Emily incident. This was something new for Sonny because he feels like he can finally heal after months of uncertainty and hurt. Sonny doesn't know what to make of this newfound feeling of hope or why he feels it whenever he's around Will but he hopes one day he can be his old self again. Someone who is not afraid to put himself out there and meet new people. He wants to feel free of this burden he's kept to himself for so long.

Sonny desperately wants to get to know Will better because something about him is intriguing and makes him come alive just being around him. "So Will, have you decided on what I could do to make you feel better?"

"Just keep being the cool person that you are so far. That'll be more than enough for me," Will says briefly looking at him with a smile.

"That's a cop out answer. Come on, I truly do want to make it up to you so just name it and I'll do it," Sonny says.

"I honestly don't know yet. I want to save that in case I can think of something better later on. I don't know if you feel the same but I would really love to get to know you better and be the best of friends," Will states.

"I would really love that too," Sonny says, smiling.

The car ride took a little longer than expected because they were stuck in traffic for about 20 minutes. Once they finally made it to the lake, Will parked and all of the guys took the bags of food and met up with Abby, Chad, T and 3 of Abby's girl friends.

"Hey! You guys made it!" Abby happily exclaims, walking up to them but was confused when she notices Sonny with Will, Kareem and Nick. "Wait, how do you guys know Sonny?"

"Will walked up to Sonny's table, they talked for a bit then Will introduced him to us," Nick says.

"Yeah, and Sonny didn't know how to get here so Will volunteered to bring him here," Kareem winks and notices Will blushing a little.

"Kareem, Nick and Will have been great and super friendly. Oh and now that I remember, Will and I found out that we're both your cousins. Are Will and I related too?"

"No, silly. Will is my cousin from my mom's side of the family and you're my cousin from my dad's side. You guys aren't related at all," Abby stated matter of factly.

"And there you have it. Mystery solved." Will said a little too happily. _All this time I've been kinda flirting with him even though I knew there was a possibility of him being my cousin. What is WRONG with me?! _He smacks his forehead with his hand at the thought.

"Okaaaay…" Abby notices Will but continues her thought, "Well, let's go. We don't want to keep the others waiting," Abby beckons for all of them to join the other group.

Once they reach the other group, Abby introduces Will, Sonny, Nick and Kareem to her girl friends. She points at red headed girl with blue eyes and says "Guys, this is Scarlett…" then points to the blonde girl with blue eyes next to her and says "…this is Jasmine…" then points to the black haired girl with green eyes and says "…and this is Haven."

All of them greeted each other and immediately started helping set up everything; the blankets so they can lay or sit on, the towels, the music, the food, the plates and utensils, etc. Once everything was done and they were all settled, they started to talk for a bit before splitting up to either swim or play volleyball.

"Well, I'm gonna go play some volleyball. Who's gonna be on my team so we can kick the other team's ass?" Chad says with confidence. "Nick, you wanna be on my team?"

"No, I'm actually just going to stay here for a while and catch up on my reading. This book is on a really interesting part but thank you for asking," says Nick.

"Kareem, how about you?"

"Definitely not. It's way too hot to not be swimming right now. Sorry dude," says Kareem as he takes off him shirt and makes his way to the lake.

"Will, don't tell me you're gonna leave me hanging too?"

"Alright fine, I'll play. Sonny and T, are you guys going to play too?"

"Sure, sounds like fun," Sonny says.

"I'm game. I need to make myself more hungry so I can beat all of you in the hot dog eating contest soon," T smirks, then looks at Sonny and says, "hey new guy, I'm T, by the way."

"Hey T, my name is Sonny."

"Alright now to pick teams. Sonny, do you want to be on my team?" asks Chad.

"Sure! Although Will is probably going to get mad at me for kicking his ass. I'm supposed to try making him feel better," Sonny teases.

"Don't worry Sonny, I won't get mad because I don't plan on losing today," the confident blue-eyed boy says with a smirk.

"Oh, it's on, Horton! You're going down!" Chad says.

"Let's make this game more interesting by betting some money. First team to reach 20 points split the winnings in half," T suggests.

"Sounds good to me. So how much are we talking here?" Chad asks.

"50 each. Go big or go home, right?" Sonny says.

"Deal!" They all say as they shake each other's hands to seal the deal.

The guys ran towards the volleyball court and went to their respective sides with their teammate. Each of them were stretching and preparing themselves for a high stakes games. Well, high stakes for high school kids, anyway. Once they were pumped and ready to go, it was time to begin. Chad was the first to serve and was too pumped because it was out of bounds. Once he calmed down and focused, he was able to serve properly. With each volley, the guys became more intense. When one team scored, the other team would score right after. This made all of the guys more competitive and in the zone. That is until Sonny was sweating so much that he decided to take off his shirt. As soon as his shirt came off, Will was mesmerized by Sonny's perfectly chiseled, sweaty body. In fact, Will was so focused on Sonny's body that he didn't see the incoming ball until it landed on his head, snapping him out of his distraction. Naturally, the guys paused to game to let out a chorus of belly laughs and wiping the tears of laughter from their eyes before continuing. With the score being 10-9 with Sonny and Chad's team winning, they decided to take a much needed break to rest a little and to drink water. Once they were set, the game continued again with Will serving the ball. The game carried on, showing an incredible amount of athleticism and finesse. Truly this game was the game of champions with the determination each of them had to win and to boast about it later on. Even Abby and her friends sat at the sidelines cheering on the guys. Finally, the game was over and the winners were determined.

"And _that_ is how it's done boys, better luck next time. Now hand over the 50 bucks, losers," T says, high fiving Will after their victory.

"That was just luck. Plus, Abby wearing that bikini would distract anyone so I blame our loss on that," Chad exclaims as he hands T 50 dollars.

"You know Will, when people say to 'get your head in the game,' I don't think they meant that to be literal," the chocolate eyed boy teases while handing Will the 50 dollars.

"Wow, and I thought my puns were seriously unfunny," Will jokes.

"That's cold."

"Cold? But it's like 95 degrees right now," Will says trying to keep a straight face.

"And you say that _I'm_ the unfunny one?" Sonny chuckles, playfully punches Will's arm.

"Hey, are you guys coming or what? I'm starving!" T yells.

"We better get over there now before T devours everything in sight," Will tells Sonny as they both make their way to the picnic area.

They all gather and decide that now would be a great time to eat so they all make their way to the food and begin to serve themselves. Once they were all seated and eating, they were also enjoying the conversation, having fun together and NOT having to deal with any drama. About 45 minutes passed after eating so they deem it safe to go for a swim, especially since they waited an extra 15 minutes to successfully avoid stomach cramps.

As Will stands up and gets ready to go for a swim, he notices his skin has reddened slightly and panics, "Holy shit! I need sunscreen NOW!" Will notices the sunscreen is located right next to Sonny and yells, "Sonny, pass me the sunscreen please!" Sonny grabs it and passes it to Will. "Thanks man."

"No problem. You're definitely going to be feeling that tomorrow," Sonny chuckles.

"Not funny, Mister, um, whatever your last name is!" Will frantically rubs sunscreen all over his arms and face. He pours a generous amount of sunscreen on his hand, about to rub it all over his body when he realizes he forgot to take off his blue tank before his hands were covered in the sunscreen. He turns to dark haired boy, "Um….Sonny?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you, um, help me….you know, take my shirt…..off? I wouldn't have asked you to do it but my hands are all dirty," Will looks down to avoid the awkward moment.

"You haven't even taken me out on a first date and you already want me to take off your clothes? You don't waste time, do you?"

"Not when my potential date is as hot as you. Maybe someday I'll take you out," Will winks, relaxing when he sees Sonny isn't feeling awkward about it.

Sonny's eyes widen at Will's bold statements. He quickly deflects Will's statement, "Is that the best pickup line you can think of? No wonder you're still single."

"First of all, ouch…right in the ego. And second, what's wrong with that line? I would've been flattered if someone used that line on me," Will says reminding Sonny about his shirt by gesturing him with his eyes.

Sonny understands, reaching over to grab the hem of Will's shirt while commenting, "What? Seriously? You would actually fall for that? That's almost as bad as being impressed with 'are you a parking ticket? 'Cause you've got fine…" Sonny trails off as he is distracted when he finally takes off Will's shirt, which reveals his well defined abs, perfect pecs and prominent V disappearing into his swim trunks. Sonny quickly recovers and continues, "…written all over you."

"Geez man, give me more credit than that. It'll take a lot more than cheap pickup lines to get me to date someone. Thanks for helping me, I appreciate it." Will rubs his body with sunscreen.

"No problem. And seriously? You just said you would be flattered with the pickup line you said and now you're saying you wouldn't date them?" Sonny looks towards the lake to avoid staring at Will's body but look a few times without Will noticing.

"Being flattered and dating them are two completely different things.

"Touché. Hurry so we can finally swim already."

"Okay, I'm good. Let's go get wet!"

Will and Sonny run to the lake to join the others. Everyone is talking, swimming, and having a great time in each other's company. While Sonny was participating in a lighthearted conversation with Chad, Abigail, Jasmine and Nick, he looks away from them for a moment and notices Scarlet and Kareem laughing at T's antic of trying to impress Scarlet. Then Sonny's eyes drift off in a different direction where he notices Will and Haven, who seem to be having a private conversation since they're very close to each other. Will is whispering in Haven's ear while she seems to be giggling. Sonny tries to not let it bother him as he continues with the conversation. After a few more minutes, Haven and Will join Sonny's group. While talking and laughing, Will couldn't help but feel his heart skip a beat every time he saw Sonny's smile. Will could almost guarantee he has never seen anything more beautiful in his life, well, except for Sonny himself.

After about two hours, Will says to his friends, "Hey guys, I had a great time but I'm gonna head out. Do any of you need a ride back in town?"

"I do but I don't wanna leave yet! It's too early to leave, old man," Kareem whines.

"That's alright. We can take you or T can so don't worry about it, Kareem. We can work something out," Abby suggests.

"Thanks Abby! I guess I won't be needing a ride from you after all," Kareem replies, dunking himself into the water.

"Alright I'll see you guys in school tomorrow," says Will. He's about to start swimming back to the dock when he feels someone grab his shoulder. He turns around to see that it was Sonny.

"Can I get a ride home?"

"Sure but it's still early though. Are you sure you want to go home right now?"

"Aren't you going home?"

"Well yeah, but I was just going to get changed and head out to play some pool. Wanna join me? We can go for a rematch so you can try—and fail— at winning back your 50 bucks," teases Will.

"Easiest. Rematch. Ever. You're so going down!" Sonny teases back.

"If your pool skills are anything like your volleyball skills, then you'll make me sweat a little but I'll ultimately win so I'm not worried," Will smirks and Sonny sticks out his tongue.

"Dude, you're so cocky!"

"That's what she said!" Will laughs.

"Wow," Sonny facepalms and Will laughs even more.

Will turns his head from Sonny to the group and says, "Well, Sonny and I are gonna head out so have fun everyone!"

"Alright, take care you two. Oh I'm sure you both will have lots of _fun_. Don't do anything I wouldn't do; if you know what I mean," Kareem teases and winks at them.

"Really Kareem? How immature," Will rolls his eyes.

"Do you realize how ironic it was to hear you complain about Kareem being immature?" Sonny says staring at Will.

"Shut up," Will splashes water at Sonny's face and quickly swims away from Sonny.

"Fuck! You're gonna pay for that!" Sonny wipes his face then swims to chase Will.

Once Will and Sonny manage to get out of the lake, without successfully drowning each other first, they dry themselves off and clean up the picnic spot, throwing away the garbage from the food then grab their stuff. They walk to Will's car, throw their stuff in the back seat and sit down in their seats. Will drives off while reluctantly listening to some of Sonny's music from his iPod. Once they make it back to Will's apartment, Will invites Sonny up so he can shower first and get ready to go out. Sonny hesitantly accepts showering at his place and Will offers Sonny some of his clothes. Sonny insists on using his own clothes but Will eventually convinces Sonny that he doesn't mind. Will takes a quick shower and gets dressed while Sonny waiting for him on the couch in the living room. Sonny looks around and sees the places doesn't have any pictures and looks relatively empty, with no personal touches around the house. Sonny thinks it's strange but doesn't think much about it. A few minutes later he hears Will walking towards the living room, ready to leave. Will and Sonny leave the apartment and head for Will's car so they can continue their quest to find out who will win at pool. Will drives in the parking lot of a large mall. Sonny is taking in all of the different stores, people, noises as Will leads them to the gaming center. They go to the counter order some sodas, snacks and ask for a pool table. They head towards the pool table they were given and start setting up the game.

"You break," Will calls over his shoulder as he finishes setting up the balls.

"Fine. It's Kiriakis, by the way."

"Huh?"

"Back at the lake, you called me 'mister whatever your last name is.' Well, my name is Jackson Kiriakis but people just call me Sonny," he says as he breaks and the balls scatter across the table.

"Oh. Well, it's nice to finally meet you Sonny Kiriakis. My name is Will Horton," he says, eyes trained on the pool table. Once he takes his shot, he looks at Sonny. "Wait a minute, are you related to THE Victor Kiriakis?"

"Yup! He's my great uncle. How did you know?"

"Well it's hard to live in a small town like this and not know who he is. Although he's not exactly known for being a saint."

"I would imagine. My family has done things I can't even deal with but luckily, my parents keep me as far away from that as possible."

"That's good. I wouldn't want to have to beat the shit out of thugs for messing with you. But I will if I have to. You would definitely owe me though," Will states half joking, half serious but all confidence.

"That's nice of you to offer but how the hell would you even manage to supposedly 'beat the shit' out of these thugs? You freaked out because of a little sunburn!"

"I'll have you know I'm manly as fuck and can handle a few thugs with my sick ninja skills so shut up!" When Will finishes his rant about being tough, Will turns towards the table, his back towards Sonny. Sonny glides a whisper of a touch with his index finger over the back of Will's neck, making him jump and yelp. "Holy shit! Get it off me!"

Sonny doubles over in laughter, wiping tears from his eyes as Will is trying to slap away the imaginary spider on his neck, "Oh my God! Can't. Breathe." Sonny calms down a few minutes later. "You're so tough, Will. I feel much better knowing you'll be protecting me now!"

Will is embarrassed so he does the only thing he can think of: getting even. It was Sonny's turn at the table so once he manages to calm down enough, he focuses on what his next move would be. Sonny is mere seconds away from shooting so Will comes from behind him and pinches his right ass check—hard. Sonny was caught so off guard that he takes his shot so hard, which sends the cue ball flying off the table and across the room. Now it's Will's turn to double over in laughter and wipe his tears.

"What the fuck was that?! My ass cheek is probably gonna be bruised tomorrow." Sonny says, rubbing his butt and continues, "Well played, Horton. I call a truce on this mindfuck we're doing so we can get back to playing and getting to know each other."

Will is wiping his tears, "Sorry about that. I really do want to get to know you better."

"Alright, now you said before that I would owe you for supposedly saving me. What would I owe you?"

"In those old movies, every time someone gets saved, they give their hero a kiss so according to that, you'd owe me a kiss."

Sonny manages to keep his shock from that statement in check. "Seems fair I guess but what makes you think I'd even want to kiss you?"

"Have you seen me? Who wouldn't wanna kiss me?"

"God, I don't even know how you managed to get you and your massive ego through that tiny door to get in here," Sonny chuckles.

"It's a secret." He chuckles. "Anyway, so tell me about yourself. Where did you come here from?"

"I was born in Salem but almost immediately moved to Chicago. Spent a good portion of my life there. We came back to Salem for a few months but then moved to Dubai for a few years. While over there, my parents decided to come back to Chicago so I can go to high school since I had potential to get a basketball scholarship for college. Now we moved back to Salem because my dad got a great job offer."

"Wow, you and your parents moved around quite a bit. Did you like it over there in Dubai?"

"It was a great place to live. I got to learn about the culture over there and meet great people."

"Sounds fun. So do you miss it over at Chicago? You must've left behind lots of friends to come over here."

"If I were being brutally honest right now, no I don't miss my friends from there, if you can call them that. I only really miss Jaime, my close friend, but I'm not really torn up about leaving him."

"That's actually really sad. Why do you say that though? Did they treat you badly?"

"I really don't wanna talk about it."

"Oh...okay then consider the subject dropped."

"I appreciate that. It's nothing personal. I'd rather not talk about it. So tell me about yourself."

"There's not much to tell. I'm pretty much just a normal teenager. I go to school, hardcore tennis player, I work at the pub or some odd jobs as much as possible, I work out a lot and do yoga. I rarely have time for fun. I'm rarely at home because I'm so busy. I have a few friends but Kareem and Nick are the only ones I'm really close with. Um, I don't really know what else to say."

"It's pretty obvious that you work out a lot. You're ripped, dude. What do you mean you don't have time for fun?"

Will smiles at that. "I just spend most of my time at the pub working extra shifts, odd jobs and working out. I barely have any time to myself."

"Why though? You're young. You should be worrying about school or partying, not about working all the time."

"I have my reasons. I'd rather not get into it right now, if that's okay."

"That's fine, I understand. Clearly you're a man of many layers because one minute you're really arrogant and flirtatious, then the next, you're all serious and responsible. I'm intrigued."

"Um...thanks, I think. I just noticed that we were pretty much talking the whole time and barely played any pool."

"I guess you're right. It might have something to do with you making me send that cue ball all the way over there and me not wanting to do the walk of shame to get it." They both chuckle. "So how do we settle this bet of ours?"

Will takes out his wallet, takes out the money and says, "Here, take your 50 back."

"What...why?"

"I honestly want you to have it back. I had no intention of keeping it."

"Now I feel bad though because you won it at volleyball so you deserve it."

"That may be true but still, I want you to have it back. I ended up winning your friendship and that, my friend, is a prize that is worth way more than all of the money in the world so I thank you for that."

"Thanks, it means a lot that you say my friendship means that much to you. I don't think I've ever really had that before. There's just something about you that makes me open up a little more than usual."

"No one has ever told you that? I don't believe it. Well I'm telling you right now, you're a great guy and I feel lucky to have met you, even if you suck at volleyball."

Sonny shakes his head, "Our first moment and you kill it before we can partake in our first official bro hug. That has to be a record or something." Will laughs.

"Honestly, this is the farthest I've gone with a friend. Most people can't get past the cocky, sarcastic asshole exterior to get to the mushy, sappy and totally sweet interior."

"Again, I'm intrigued. You somehow managed to go from us having a moment to killing it to having another moment, all within a minute. I have a feeling we're gonna be besties in no time."

Will raises an eyebrow. "Did you just say 'besties'?"

"Yeah why? What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing. It just kind of falls under the category of 'adorable'. We're too manly to be called 'besties.'"

"Abby has called you 'adorable' before, hasn't she?"

Will cocks his head at Sonny, "how did you know that?"

"When I just met up with her, she couldn't hold out and called me that in a manner of a few minutes."

"And you called her out on it?" Sonny nods. "Oh yeah, we're definitely gonna be bros in no time." Will and Sonny high five.

"So are you interested in anybody in Salem, you know, as something more than just a friend?"

Will blushes a little but straighten up as he speaks. "Actually, now that you mention it, yes I am. I'll give you a clue. This person has dark hair, gorgeous eyes, the most amazing smile I've ever seen in my life, we had an instant connection the moment we talked, and not to mention the most beautiful person to walk this earth."

"Wow, you really got it bad, don't you?"

"Yeah, I definitely do. I've never felt this before in my life. It scares me, to be perfectly honest."

"I think you should go for it." Sonny shrugs.

"Yeah? Why?"

"Well, like I said, it really seems like you've got it bad for this person so you should tell them how you feel before someone else does. You know?"

"That makes sense but we barely know each other. Plus, I don't know if the person feels the same. I may be cocky but I can't handle rejection."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Just get to know that person more and see if the feeling is mutual. But from what I saw today, this person definitely might be into you."

Will blushes fiercely and his heart races. "So you think I actually have a chance with this person?"

"Definitely. You just have to go for it when the time is right."

"That's great advice. This person is really beautiful though and I'm kind of scared I'll lose them somehow."

"If it's meant to be, which I think it could be, then it'll work itself out in the end. If this person is worth waiting for then you need to give them time." Sonny says, putting his hand on Will's shoulder and squeezing it reassuringly.

"Okay, you're right. Well, I'm going to get that cue ball so I'll be right back," Will beams and runs to get the cue ball. Sonny looks on as he leaves. _He's not interested in you, Sonny. He was clearly describing Haven and by the looks of it, he's really fallen for her. Don't get your hopes up. It's just a stupid crush. I mean, he's an attractive guy, and maybe that's all it ever was. Don't think about him as anything more than a friend. You'll find the perfect girl for you one day. One that'll maybe help you fill this void in your heart that love left inside of you. A girl to help push these thoughts about being with men out of your head, once and for all. I just want to fit in and be normal like everyone else. _Sonny is lost in his thoughts so he doesn't notice Will walking up to him. Will sees Sonny's eyes water, a sad expression on his beautiful features, and it breaks Will's heart. He puts his hand on Sonny's shoulder, which startles him out of his reverie. "Are you alright, Sonny?" Will asks with genuine concern.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine. Just fine. I had a um, dust in my eye. No biggie."

"The 'dust in my eye' excuse, really? I don't buy it, Kiriakis. So come on, tell me what's wrong."

"It's nothing, really. I'm just being dumb." Sonny shrugs, wiping his eyes to keep his tears from falling.

"You're not dumb. Don't ever say that about yourself, is that understood? As much as I hate suggesting this, mainly because I'll sound like a wuss again, but I will subject myself to your spider mindfuck again if I knew it would put a smile back on your face."

Sonny stares at him. "You wouldn't."

"I totally would. I mean it. You're going to think I sound weird but there's something about you that makes me want to protect you from everything."

"Even thugs?" Sonny tries to stifle a laugh.

"Of course! I already promised. Plus, once they see all of this sexy, I'll just be like 'can't touch this,' MC Hammer style."

"Oh my God, you're so full of it! Where do you come up with this stuff?" Sonny says, while laughing.

"It doesn't matter where. The point is, I finally got you to smile."

"You really did. Thank you for making me feel better. So I guess I have finally caught a glimpse of your mushy, sappy and totally sweet interior that you talked about earlier?"

"Yes you did. Don't get too close though or you'll get diabetes from all the sweetness I just laid out on you."

Sonny rolls his eyes and chuckles. "Will, you're the corniest person to ever exist."

"I know. And with time and guidance, you'll reach my level soon enough," Will smirks.

Will and Sonny decide to get out of the gaming center so they can walk around the mall for a bit and continue getting to know each other. A few hours pass so they stop by the food court to grab a bite and continue their conversation. Will orders a ham and cheese sandwich while Sonny orders a turkey sandwich. They both proceed to cut their sandwiches in half and swap with the other. It was already 8:00 p.m. so they both decide to head home and get ready for tomorrow. Will and Sonny get in Will's car while Sonny proceeds to give Will directions to the Kiriakis mansion. Once they finally make it, Will drives through the gates so he could leave Sonny at the door.

"Well here you go. Home sweet gigantic home." Will chuckles and Sonny shakes his head. "So I'll see you in school tomorrow?"

"Definitely. That'll be great. Actually..." Sonny trails off, avoiding looking into Will's eyes.

"What is it? Come on, you can tell me. We're bros now, remember?"

"Um...I really hate to put you in this spot and you can say no if you want to but..."

Will notices Sonny is blushing so it makes his him nervous at what Sonny would want to ask him. Then Will wonders if there's an off chance that Sonny feels the same way for him as he does for Sonny. Will's palms are sweating and he wonders if Sonny is going to ask him for a kiss. _We had a few moments today, and he said I should go after the person I want to be with. What if he's beating me to the punch? What do I say to him? Do I follow his lead or do I lead? Does my breath smell bad? Will he think I'm a lousy kisser? _ Will swallows the lump in his throat that formed. _Calm down, Horton. Just relax._

"...but what?"

"I wanted to know if you...um, wanted to..."

"Spit it out Sonny! Geez, you're making me nervous!"

"Okay, I was wondering if you would come by tomorrow morning so we could walk to school together. Abby was supposed to show me around today but she had to go set up the picnic. Like I said, you don't have to say yes." Will is about to answer but Sonny cuts him off. "I don't want you to think I'm treating you like my tour guide around town or anything. I don't want you to think I'm taking advantage of you because it's not even like that." Will attempts to talk again but Sonny once again cuts him off. "Actually, forget I asked. I'll just wake up earlier and maybe ask people around town for directions. That way you don't have to feel obligated to help me—"

"SONNY!" Will finally talks loud enough to get his attention.

"...yes?"

"I'd love to go with you and no, I don't feel obligated to do it. I'll be happy to take you. We have to go in my car though because it's kind of far away so what do you say I pick you up around 7:00ish?"

"Sounds good. But wait, doesn't class start at 8?"

"It does but I wanna take you out to eat breakfast first. I also wanna have time to show you around so you won't get lost trying to find your classes."

"Oh my God, Will, you think of everything! Thank you so much! We just met and I already feel like I can count on you for anything. I don't know how I can ever thank you."

"You really don't have to thank me. Honest. I just really like hanging out with you. I know it might be too early to say this but if you ever need me, for anything, I'll always be here for you," Will smiles.

"You really are my hero. At this rate, I'd probably owe you enough kisses to last you a lifetime." Sonny chuckles and looks away to hide the blush creeping in. "Well, thanks for today, I had a great time. I will see you tomorrow. Oh and I'm inviting to breakfast and I won't be taking no for an answer. Good night!"

"Good night Sonny." And with that, Sonny gets out of the car and heads to the door of the mansion. Will is smiling brightly after spending the whole day with Sonny but then remembers something and shouts, "Sonny, wait!"

Sonny hears this and stops to turn towards Will. "Yeah?"

Will continues to shout from the car, "We didn't officially share our first bro hug. I thought you cared about me, Kiriakis."

"Our first time has to be special. We'll see what happens tomorrow," Sonny winks and heads back to the door of the mansion.

"You tease!" Will shakes his head then waves goodbye to Sonny and drives off.

Sonny walks into the mansion and immediately spots his parents having a discussion in the study room. "Hey mom! Hey dad! How are you guys?"

"We're great, Sonny, never better." Justin pauses, noticing Sonny's cheerful face, "What have you been up to, son?

"I went to the lake with a few of Abby's friends that she introduced me to, then I went with my new friend to the mall and had a great time. My friend—his name is Will—is one of the nicest and friendliest guys I've met today. He's picking me up tomorrow so we can go to school together and he's going to show me around."

"Will certainly sounds like a wonderful young man," Adrienne says. "Sonny, where did you get those clothes? I don't recognize them."

"Oh, these are Will's. He let me borrow them after we left the lake. Oh by the way, Will is apparently Abigail's cousin too. Anyway, I'm gonna go to my room and lay down, I'm exhausted. Good night!" Sonny kisses his mom on the cheek and hugs his dad before he leaves.

"Well that's new," Justin comments.

"I know. This is the happiest I've seen our son since the Emily thing. This young man managed to do the impossible. He helped bring back our son," Adrienne gleefully states.

"We should probably continue our conversation tomorrow. We're not done with it. I just find it to be wrong to continue now that our son is happy for once." Justin says.

"Tomorrow it is then but know that I don't plan on changing my mind," Adrienne says, walking out of the study room and to her room.

"Oh boy…." Justin exhales.

**********  
A/N: The reason for this update being ridiculously long is because this fic is supposed to be about Will and Sonny in high school but I'm already 5 chapters in and we're STILL on the day before school starts. I just needed Chapter 6 to finally start the high school scenes and make this story progress. Next chapter features massive drama! Again, thank you for reading and supporting my fic. Hope you guys enjoy it =)**


	6. Chapter 6: First day of High School

**Chapter 6**

That infernal noise. The sound of the alarm going off as a reminder that freedom is now officially over-well, at least for the next few months anyway. Time to get ready and prepare to enter Salem High School, the battlefield where one has to avoid getting sucked into pointless drama and petty arguments for the next few months. Being the new guy will also have its own set of challenges since this would be uncharted territory and unfamiliar faces.

Sonny reaches over to his nightstand, face still buried in his pillow, blindly searching for his phone to turn off the alarm. Unable to find his phone and becoming more annoyed with the piercing screeches assaulting Sonny's ears, he reluctantly lifts his head, looking towards the nightstand. Noticing a faint light coming from his other side, his head to discover the phone was actually laying next to him on the bed. He finally turns the alarm off, sparing his ears more torture. He crawls to the edge of the bed, standing up, and walking to the bathroom to shower. Before he makes it to bathroom he glances out of his window and grumbles "it should be illegal for wake up for school before the sun is even up."

Sonny strips himself of his T-shirt and boxers then steps into the shower. He groggily starts the water but winces and instantly wakes up to move out of the way of the icy water. _Fuck._ Once Sonny gets the water from immediate-boner-annihilation type of cold to about hot-chocolate-on-a-cold-day type of warm, he starts to lather himself with the soap, gliding it all over this body at a methodical pace. Satisfied with lathering his front half, he turns his attention to the back half, attempting to get those hard to reach places. Gliding the soap over his ass, he feels a tinge of discomfort so he examines it only to notice that there was indeed a bruise on his right ass check where Will pinched him. Sonny smiles, not at Will apparently marking his ass, but at how easy it was to talk to him and how much he enjoyed his company. _Will is a great guy. I had such a great time with him._ Sonny thinks as he continues to lather himself, then it hit him—like a bucket of cold water, or shower, in this case—that he needed to hurry up because Will was going to pick him up soon.

Sonny quickly gets out of the shower, dries himself with his towel, brushes his teeth, then runs back to his room to put on his clothes. He checks his phone for the time; it reads 6:35 AM. Plenty time for Sonny to get his hair styled enough to make it look perfectly messy, without it looking like bed head. As he's applying the final touches, he heard his phone beep, indicating a text.

**Will:**

Good morning Sonny _6:57 AM._

**Sonny:**

Good morning Will _6:58 AM._

**Will:**

Are you ready? I'm here in front of the mansion _6:58 AM._

**Sonny:**

Yeah, almost done. Just give me a few mins, plz _6:58 AM._

**Will:**

Ok no prob _6:59 AM._

Sonny is standing at the doorway of his room making sure he has all of the things he needs. _Notebooks - check, pens - check, class schedule - check, phone - check, keys - check, wallet - check. Well, I think that's everything._ And with that thought, Sonny runs down the stairs and out the door towards Will's car without saying goodbye to anyone since no one seemed to be awake yet.

Sonny walks to the passenger side, opens the door to climb in, sits down and says "Hey Will. Thanks again for coming here and taking me with you."

"Hey Sonny. Would you quit thanking me already? I'm happy to do it. So how are you?"

Sonny smiles. "Pretty good I guess except for waking up ridiculously early. That part sucks."

"You're not a morning person at all, are you?

"I can be once I've had my coffee fix."

"Since you're inviting you get to decide so what are you in the mood to eat?"

"Will, it's like 7 right now. My brain isn't fully awake to think about anything yet. You decide."

Will laughs. "Well it's too early to go to the pub so how about I take you to this diner near the school?"

"If they serve coffee then I'm down for that."

Will stares blankly at Sonny. "Of course they serve coffee, Sonny. It's a diner."

"...shut up."

"Your brain really is off right now," Will teases. Sonny playfully punches his arm.

Will starts the car and drives to the diner, about 10 minutes from the mansion. Once they both boys enter the diner, they sit at a table near the window. They look over the menu, tell the friendly waitress their order—an omelette with cheese, bacon, sausage and 2 slices of toasted bread on the side for Will; a stack of 5 chocolate chip pancakes for Sonny—and play the waiting game for their food, which wouldn't take long since the diner was relatively empty. A few minutes of conversation, the waitress comes back with a pot of coffee and sets it on their table, along with two coffee cups and their food.

Sonny quickly grabs the coffee pot, serves his and Will's coffee and takes a sip of the hot liquid. "Mmm…..coffee."

"You might have a slight coffee addiction there, dude." Will chuckles then takes a bite of his omelette.

"Don't judge. As punishment…" Sonny reaches over to Will's plate and continues, "…your sausage is now mine."

Before Will has time to process what just happened, Sonny pops it into his mouth. "Hey! That's my sausage!"

"What sausage?" Sonny says, then smiles with his mouth full of it.

"You know damn well which one." Will tries to be serious, holding back a smile that's trying to make itself known, but can't help laughing with, or at, Sonny. He's not quite sure yet. "So, how does it taste?"

"Pretty damn good."

"I'm glad." Will shakes his head, trying to stifle a laugh, and takes another bite of his omelette.

"The next time we come here, I'm totally gonna order what you have. That way, you can have my sausage." Upon hearing that, Will chokes on the piece of omelette and has a coughing fit mixed with laughter. "Oh shit, are you ok?" Will nods and reaches for his cup of coffee to try calming down. "Wait, why are you laughing?" Sonny thinks back on what he said to cause this reaction from Will. Then it hits him. "William Horton! Get your mind out of the gutter! Geez! It's too early for your perv jokes."

It takes a couple of minutes for Will to calm down enough to speak. "It's never too early for those!"

Sonny rolls his eyes. "How are you full of jokes this early anyway?"

"Unlike you, my coffee obsessed friend, I'm a morning person. Or rather, I've become one."

Sonny narrows his eyes and serves himself another cup of coffee. "Elaborate."

Sonny finally starts eating his pancakes while Will talks. "Remember how I told you that I'm always really busy?" Sonny nods. "Well, I wake up every day at 6 am to work out and do yoga before I have to work."

Sonny cocks his head, swallows his food. "Every day?"

"Yup."

Sonny's eyes widen. "What's the latest you've ever woken up then?"

"For the past year and a half, I would say about 7:30 am."

"WHAT?! That's still early. The latest I've ever woken up was like 12 pm."

"It's been so long ago that I don't even remember what it's like. Even before I got so busy, I've never been able to sleep that late." Sonny notices Will frown and look away.

"No no no, please don't be sad. I'm sorry for bringing that up! I didn't mean to. God, I'm such an idiot."

"You're not an idiot. And it's ok; we just met. How are you supposed to know that was kind of a sore subject for me? Don't worry about it. Really, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Will nods. "Ok, I know what can help you feel better."

"Oh yeah? And what might that be?"

"Doing a toast with me!"

"A toast?" Will raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah!" Sonny pours himself a second cup of coffee and holds it for the toast. "Well, what are you waiting for, Horton? Raise your cup with me." Will does what he's told. "Alright, I propose a toast to new friends; a promise to always have each other's back, no matter what might happen. I will be there for you if you ever need someone to talk to. I hope to one day be worthy of your trust so you won't be scared to open up to me about anything. I'll never judge you and it wouldn't affect our friendship. You're a great guy and I want you to always be happy." Sonny was about to clink his cup with Will's but then adds, "Oh and to help each other survive this school year too." They now clink their cups.

"Thanks, that means more to me than I can say. I will also be here for you if you ever need someone to talk to. And yes, I'll help you survive school." Will chuckles. They make the toast official by taking a sip of their coffee, except that Sonny downs the whole thing and goes to serve himself a third cup but Will stops him. "Whoa there, that's enough coffee for you. Now finish your pancakes before we're late."

"Yes _dad_."

"That's 'DILF' to you, young man," Will snickers. "Now eat!" Sonny rolls his eyes and eats.

They finish eating while continuing their conversation about random topics. The waitress walks up to their table and leaves the bill on their table as she carries the plates away. Will tried to pay but Sonny insisted he'd pay this time and Will could pay next time. Sonny leaves a generous tip for the waitress and they both leave to get in the car. It takes Will about 5 minutes to arrive at the high school and park the car. They walk up to the main entrance of the building and walk to the cafeteria to join the other students. They have about 15 minutes to spare before classes officially start so they take the opportunity to look over Sonny's class schedule.

"Ok, let's see here. What a coincidence. We have English Literature 3, lunch, Chemistry, study hall and gym together. I guess even the school somehow knows that you can't get enough of this sexy beast." Will laughs when Sonny rolls his eyes.

"I don't know if I can handle seeing that much of you until the school year ends," Sonny teases.

"Don't lie. We both know that seeing me will be the highlight of your day," Will teases back. "Anyway, let's get back to your schedule here. You're gonna take French?"

"Oui."

"'We'? Nah man, I'm taking Spanish."

Sonny snorts, "I meant 'oui' as in 'yes' in French, not 'we' as in 'you and me.'"

"I knew that."

"I'm sure you did." Will sticks his tongue out and Sonny chuckles.

"Ok so you know that the first number of the room is the floor, right?" Will and Sonny look at each other briefly but then Will looks back at the class schedule. Sonny, instead of looking back at the class schedule with him, is looking at him, admiring the man sitting next to him. The man that has made him feel welcome in an unfamiliar town. Sonny can't help but smile at the sweet guy. "Like, for example, your General Business class is room 306 so it's on the third floor." Will was waiting for Sonny to respond but he didn't so he looked up from the schedule and caught Sonny staring and smiling at him. Will smiles. "Sonny?"

Sonny realizes he's been caught and also blushes. He manages to let out, "oh, um...yeah, they used the same system in my other school."

"Ok good, just making sure. Don't want you getting lost," Will looks at Sonny and smiles. "At least today we get to leave early though since it's just like introduction classes."

"Best. News. Ever! That never happened in my other school."

"Weird. I guess all schools are different." The bell rings, signaling the beginning of first period. "So, are you ready, Sonny?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

Will and Sonny get up from their chairs and climb the stairs to the second floor where their English Literature class is located. They enter the room to find a few students already seated but no one familiar to either of them. They decide to sit in the center of the room, more towards the back of the room, and sit next to each other. A few more students trickled as they awaited the teacher's arrival. The teacher finally arrives, introduces himself, the course requirements, and the rules for his class. Class is now over so Will and Sonny walk in the same direction but Sonny has to go to the first floor for his Pre Calculus class while Will stays on the second floor for his World History class.

As soon as Will gets to World History class, he sees a familiar face and sits next to him. "Hey there, tall, dark and handsome. How are you doing, man?"

"Hey sexy. We just finished first period and I'm already over this." Kareem slouches.

"You're not the first person to say that. Sonny pretty much said the same thing too."

Kareem perks up, smiling mischievously, "Speaking of, how are things with you and lover boy? Did you find out if he's interested?"

Will blushes. "We did have a few moments yesterday and today. I did sort of flirt with him a few times so I didn't have to ask upfront if he was gay but he never seemed freaked out by it. So maybe I have a chance with him."

"That's great! Wait, today? Did you guys have a class together already?"

"Yeah, we actually have 5 classes together, but our moment today was during breakfast."

"You had breakfast with him?!"

"Yeah, I picked him up from his house and took him to the diner."

"You picked him up from his house?!"

"Geez Kareem, what's with the 20 questions?" Will chuckles.

"Sorry, I'm just really happy for you. You guys were pretty much total strangers yesterday but it seems like you're dating him already. Congrats man!" Kareem pats Will on the back.

"We're not dating...yet. Although yesterday I indirectly told him I really like him and that I've never felt this way before."

"You've got balls, that's for sure. So, what did he say?" asks Kareem, excitedly. "Give me the full details and don't leave anything out."

"He said I should go for it because he was also interested! And then when I dropped him off at his house last night, he joked about us kissing!" Will smiles brightly.

"Ok clearly he's into you so why haven't you asked him out yet? He was probably waiting for you to kiss him after he said that."

"I wanna get to know him better first. We have to talk more and all of that before we date. It took every ounce of strength I have to not kiss him every time I see him. He's amazing." Will says with dreamy eyes.

"Don't take too long with that though. We don't want him thinking you're putting him in the friendzone or anything." Kareem teases.

"You're right but it's better to not rush into anything. I've been so busy lately with work and now school so I honestly don't know if I'd even have enough time for him anyway. I don't want what I can possibly have with Sonny to end the same way all of my other relationships ended."

"Alright, I'll give you that. You make a good point. Seriously though, you need to stop working so much. You're almost 17 and you're so overworked. I don't know how you've been able to handle it so far."

"It hasn't been easy, that's for sure but I do what has to be done. The bills and rent aren't going to pay themselves." Will sighs. "All part of the perks of living on your own, I guess."

"You're still crazy. You're giving up your social life and fun, for your independence. You're even willing to give up on Sonny before you even start."

"You already know why I have to live on my own, dude. We don't know yet, which is why I'm just trying to get to know him better first. We'll have to wait and see if it works out."

"You're such an optimistic pessimist."

Will gives Kareem a confused look. "That doesn't even make sense."

"Yes it does, you just don't understand my wise advice." Will rolls his eyes. "Anyway, what I mean is that you're saying you're both interested in each other and you have hope you'll be good together, but then say you don't wanna be with him cuz you might hurt him."

"What's your point?"

"You're basically contradicting yourself."

"And you're an assbutt." Will sticks out his tongue.

Kareem barks out a laugh. "'Assbutt?' Seriously?"

"Yup! Now shut up, the teacher just came in."

The class comes and goes. Now the students head to homeroom, where they have to stay a little longer than their other classes for the morning announcements, as well as to take attendance and for the teacher to assign everyone their lockers. Once all of that is taken care of, the rest of their classes dragged on.

Sonny is not particularly thrilled about Haven being in his homeroom especially since he feels Will and Haven will eventually date, due to their mutual attraction. Just the thought of it upsets Sonny but he still couldn't understand why he has these feelings for a guy. No, not _just_ a guy. Will could never be considered _just_ a guy for Sonny. He wonder why he cares so much over Will wanting to be with Haven.

Sonny and Will have seen a few familiar faces during some of their classes. They finally met up for their lunch period. Sonny ran out of the house so fast he forgot to prepare his lunch. _Mental note: I really need to stop running out of the house at the risk of forgetting something….AGAIN._ He also couldn't buy lunch since the money went to their breakfast. Will offered Sonny some of his sandwich and gave him the grapes he brought and Sonny took them. They talk about their classes so far and what they thought of the teachers. After that, they split up again until they meet again later for back-to-back classes, their last classes of the day: Chemistry, study hall, and gym. Sonny got to know Chad a little better since they both have General Business class together.

Since the business class was only a few doors away from the chemistry class, Sonny made it relatively early and took a seat at one of the lab tables. A couple of minutes pass by and Will runs through the door, panting. His class was on the first floor, had to run to his locker on the second floor to put away his books, then ran up another flight of stairs to the classroom. Will looks around the classroom for Sonny. Once he sees him, he makes his way to his table and slumps down on the seat, trying to catch his breath. Sonny and Will didn't have time to talk much because class is already starting with Mr. Collins, the chemistry teacher, taking attendance and explaining the rules and future assignments for the course of the school year.

"Alright class, I hope all of you understood the rules of this classroom. Now, look at the people at your table." Mr. Collins pauses to wait for the confused students to look around, puzzled. "I want you all to get into groups of two. All of your future experiments will be done with your lab partner. There will also be a few projects along the way, which will also be a team effort. Midterms and exams are not going to be a team effort, however so it's important for you to do your own work, for your own benefit. I'll give you until 5 minutes before the class is over to get to know your lab partner because you will be stuck with them for the rest of the year so choose wisely."

Their group consists of 6 people: Will, Sonny, Kareem, Nick, Scarlet and T. But before anyone can claim a partner, T blurts out "Scarlet is gonna be my partner so back off!"

"Why do I get the feeling this is not going to negatively affect my grade?" Scarlet asks.

"That's because it is." Kareem teases.

"If we're going to be partners for the whole year, you better do your half of the work. I'm not going to fail just because you're lazy." Scarlet says.

"Don't worry baby, I got this. And if not, I'll just copy Will's homework and call it a day."

"Blow me, T. I'm not letting you copy anything. You're gonna have to work your ass off just like everyone else." Will asserts.

"So wait, I'm actually going to have to...learn?" T says, horrified.

"Yeah man. You're in school after all. In school, there's a crazy concept called learning. You should try it sometime." Nick points out.

"Screw you guys. I can handle this." T points out.

"Anyway, now that it's settled, I call Kareem as my partner so I guess that leaves Sonny with you, Will." Nick high fives Kareem and they both chuckle.

"I'm happy with Will being my partner." Sonny smiles at Will.

"I'm sure Will is also very happy to be your partner." Kareem winks at Will. Will gives Kareem his best what-the-fuck face.

"Alright class, I'm going to pass out these cards so you can fill out the emergency contact information then, if you found your lab partner, come up to my desk so I can write your names down. After that, you can leave and I'll see you all tomorrow." Mr. Collins says.

The majority of the students walk up to Mr. Collins's desk to have their names taken down, and they also return their cards so they can leave. Once they go to the auditorium for study hall, Will, Sonny, Kareem and Nick all sit together and talk while T is still trying to flirt with Scarlet at another table.

Finally, Will and Sonny make their way to the last class: gym. The teacher informs the class that tomorrow they must bring a change of clothes every day. The teacher also informs the class that they can also use the showers after class, if they choose to. After the teacher finishes explaining the specifics about the class, everyone sits around and talks until class is over. As Will and Sonny are talking, Sonny casually looks over at Haven and notices that she keeps looking towards Will from time to time and smiling. Sonny feels like there's something about Haven that is feels…._off_.

Once classes were done for the day, Will and Sonny couldn't seem to get out of there fast enough. They get into Will's car and he drives away. Sonny asks Will if he can stop by the mansion so Sonny can drop off his things so they can go hang out. Will agrees. As soon as Will arrives at the mansion, he pulls into the property to leave Sonny at the front door. Sonny thanks him, assures him it won't take long and makes his way into the mansion. Before Sonny can announce that he's home, he hears what appears to be arguing coming from the study room. He was going to ignore it because it was none of his business but, as he got closer, he realizes that the voices are those of his parents. Sonny stealthily walks up to the study room so he can listen to what the arguing was about.

"I've had it, Justin! You never have time for your son or for me because you're too busy dealing with Victor's dirty work!" Adrienne shouts.

"I'm working my ass off so I can provide for you and for our son. I already told you that I'm keeping my arrangements with Victor away from our family."

"Victor is making you deal with dangerous men. Who's to say they won't come after Sonny to get their revenge for what you two are doing?!"

"Nothing is going to happen to Sonny. I'll make sure of it. I love him and I'll protect him with my life, you know that."

"Really? Well you have a funny way of showing it. You love him so much that you barely have time for him. Do you realize how disappointed he got when he had important basketball games and you never show up?!"

"Don't you DARE accuse me of not loving Sonny! I know I fucked up for not showing up to his games but I've apologized countless times for that and he said he understands. I'm going to make it up to him this time around."

"They are just words, Justin."

"I see what you're doing. You're using our son as an excuse."

"I'm just done, Justin. I can't deal with your job. You always put it ahead of your family. There are some nights where you don't even come home to sleep. Then it turns out you've been doing Victor's bidding from afar. We just need to get this divorce started right away."

"I guess that's it then. We have to talk about living arrangements and other things some other time." Justin pinches the bridge of his nose before continuing. "For now, we have to keep up appearances around Sonny. Pretend like nothing's wrong until we find the right time to tell him."

"I agree. He's actually happy no so let's just leave it at that."

Sonny was dumbstruck at the conversation his parents were having. He steps into the study room, making his presence known to his parents and weakly asks, "Divorce?"

Adrienne and Justin become wide-eyed at the realization that Sonny heard their conversation. Adrienne tries to change the subject, perhaps prolonging the inevitable conversation they've been dreading to have. "Sonny, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you still be in school right now?"

"The first day of school is apparently just an introduction so they let everyone leave early. I came home to drop off my books so I can hang out with Will but then I heard shouting. But…is it true?"

Adrienne pretends to not know what Sonny is talking about. "Is what true?"

"Stop pretending, mom. I heard everything. Well, mostly."

Adrienne and Justin look at each other sadly, knowing there was no escaping from having to tell Sonny. "Clearly we have to talk now so please sit." Sonny obeys, sitting on the couch while Adrienne and Justin sit across from him. "Yes honey, it's true. Your father and I are getting a divorce."

Sonny is devastated, still trying to process what was doing on, hoping desperately that this was all a bad dream. But it wasn't. "But why? You guys never fought. You both looked so happy together."

"We fought more than you realize. We just never did it in front of you because we didn't want you to deal with this."

"How long has this been going on? How long ago did you both fight?"

"A few months."

"MONTHS?!" Sonny pauses, taking a moment to process everything that is being thrown at him. "You both let me live a lie, thinking I had a perfect family. That my parents had the perfect marriage."

"We did it to protect you." Justin says, sadly.

"Protect me?!" Sonny's raises his voice out of frustration. "Protect me from what? From hurting me? And how long did you think that would last? If anything, this actually hurts worse, knowing you both lied to me this whole time. I would've preferred the ugly truth of having divorced parents than a beautiful lie of a perfect family."

"We're so sorry, son. We didn't mean to hurt you with all of this. We really did do what we thought was best for you. You had too much on your plate to deal with anything."

"'Too much on my plate'? You're saying I'm not strong enough to deal with problems now?"

"It's not that. It's just..." Adrienne and Justin look at each other intently before Justin continues. "We know you're struggling with something and we didn't want to add to your confusion."

Sonny is worried because he didn't think anyone was aware of his struggle with something he doesn't completely understand yet. He tries to change the subject to avoid having to talk about it. "I'm fine. I'm not struggling with anything except having to deal with being in an unfamiliar town. So, what else did you two lie to me about? Is the job real?" Sonny asks, as a way of mocking his parents' sincerity.

Adrienne and Justin look at each other again, with worried expressions on their faces. Justin speaks up. "We might as well tell Sonny the whole truth. There's no use denying it anymore."

Sonny tries to hold back the tears. "You both lied about that too, didn't you?"

"Yes and no. You see, I actually did meet Lawrence at the store and we actually did talk about the job but he wanted me to work with him in Chicago, not Salem. I convinced him to work with him in Salem." Justin takes a deep breath and continues. "The reason we chose to go to Salem wasn't for the job though. We wanted to come here so that when we told you about the divorce, you would be surrounded by your family so it wouldn't be as hard for you."

"That's...considerate, I guess. Be honest with me. Is the divorce my fault? Was there anything I could've done to stop it from happening?" Sonny can't hold back the tears anymore and lets them flow freely.

Adrienne and Justin both pull him into a hug, wiping his tears away. "Of course this isn't your fault. You had nothing to do with this. Your father and I just have issues that couldn't be fixed so easily. Please know that we both love you so much and would do anything for you."

"Do you both still love each other?"

Justin looks at Adrienne and smiles sadly. "I will always love your mother with all of my heart. She's been my wife for many years and the mother of my amazing children, but sometimes love just isn't enough."

"What does that even mean? 'Sometimes love just isn't enough?'"

"You probably won't understand that now but maybe one day you will. Hopefully you won't go through the same thing."

Will has been sitting in the car waiting for Sonny to get out of the house. He looks at the time on his phone, 1:34 pm. _Sonny said he'd be out in a few minutes and it's been more than a half hour already. Should I go inside and look for him? He might be in trouble since he's taking so long, but I don't wanna overstep and go inside without permission. Fuck it, I'm going in._ Will walks inside the mansion easily since Sonny left the door open. _Geez, this place makes me place look like a linen closet. Actually, the linen closets here are probably bigger than my place too._ Will wanders further into the mansion in search of Sonny. He hears voices in the distance, making his way towards it, hoping it was Sonny.

Getting close enough to the voices, Will yells, "Sonny! Where are you?"

Sonny is snapped out of his conversation with his parents and goes into the hallway, seeing Will standing a few feet away. He quickly wipes his tears and asks, "Will, what are you doing here?"

Will notices that he's been crying and runs up to Sonny. "I came looking for you because we were going to hang out and you were taking too long. But what happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I just had a conversation with my parents and it's really hard to deal with."

Will is concerned for Sonny. "You're clearly not fine if you've been crying. Do you wanna talk about it? Maybe get it off your chest?"

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything. It hasn't sunk in yet. Can we not talk about it though?"

"Of course. Just remember that I'm here for you if you ever need a friend. Even if it's just to listen and maybe offer you a shoulder to cry on."

"Thank you. I appreciate that but I'll be fine. Honest. I just need time." Sonny starts to tear again.

"Alright, I understand. Come here." Will pulls Sonny into a tight hug, rubbing his back in a comforting way as Sonny starts to cry uncontrollably. He puts his hand on Sonny's head, gently guiding it to rest on his shoulder. "I've got you. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." Will starts to tear as well. _It breaks my heart seeing you this way. I will do everything in my power to make this right somehow. Whatever this is, I'll try to make it right. I promise you. _Sonny hugs Will back just a little tighter, holding on to him like a lifeline, continuing to let the tears fall.

Justin and Adrienne peak out of the study room to see who was calling Sonny's name. They witness Sonny crying on Will's shoulder. They are moved when they see Will hugging their son tightly, almost in a protective way. While not taking her eyes off the boys, Adrienne says to Justin. "That young man barely knows our son and you can just tell how much he cares about him by the way he's holding onto him."

"If Sonny has a friend like him then I'm sure he'll be just fine one day soon." Justin says with hope in his words. "Let's give them privacy." Justin and Adrienne leave the study, making their way to their own bedrooms.

Sonny remains tightly wrapped up in Will's arms for about 10 more minutes before he finally calms down. He pulls away enough to look at Will's eyes. "Thank you for this. I know you have better things to do but—"

"No I don't. Nothing is more important than being here for you right now." Will says without hesitation, then asks with genuine concern. "Are you feeling a little better at least?"

"Yeah, just a bit. I'll be fine though." Sonny says, wearing fake smile on his tear stained, red eyed face.

"I know you will." Will reluctantly pulls away from the hug and gives Sonny a reassuring pat on the back. "So, I guess I should go then since you're too upset to hang out."

"I was actually hoping we would still hang out though. I kinda need the distraction right now. Unless you just don't want me to go."

"Oh…um, I didn't think you wanted to but we can definitely go. I can take you to a place I usually go to clear my head. It works like a charm, every time."

"Sounds great. Just let me wash my face. You can go wait in the car, if you want. I'll be out in a minute. For real this time."

"Ok cool, take your time. I'll just wait here. I might get lost attempting to find the front door."

Sonny chuckles. "I've been there. It's surprising that I even remember my way around for the few months living in Salem a few years ago. Anyway, I'll be back."

Sonny walks to bathroom attached to his room to freshen up a bit, leaving Will to awkwardly stand there, looking around. _Standing alone…in a hallway…not knowing where the exit is…splitting up with your friend. Isn't this a typical horror movie cliché? As long as this place isn't haunted then—. _Will lets out an unmanly yell…again, as he was abruptly jolted out of his thoughts by Sonny putting his hand on Will's shoulder to let him know he was there.

Sonny laughs while Will tries to get his heart to beat at a normal rate. "Geez! Don't do that!"

Sonny tries to control his laughter. "Why did you jump?"

Will narrows his eyes. "Because _someone_ decided to pop up out of nowhere while I was thinking about whether or not this place was haunted."

"Watched too many scary movies, huh?"

"Clearly. Anyway, let's get going already."

Will and Sonny leave the mansion to go to the place Will was talking about. Will pulls up to a sports center and leads Sonny inside. They walk up to the batting cages.

Sonny is beaming. "Will, this is the greatest idea you've ever had. I feel better already."

Will smiles at Sonny's enthusiasm. "I'm glad you like it. So, what are we waiting for? Let's play!"

The boys swing their bats at the baseballs being thrown towards them, getting lost in the game. A sense of temporary freedom washing over them as they become engrossed in the moment. They eventually take a break to sit at a table and get something to eat. While eating, Sonny's phone rings and he checks who it is.

"It's Jaime. I'm sorry but do you mind if I take this call?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Thanks, man." Sonny walks away from the table to talk to Jaime. Will watches as Sonny steps away and goes back to eating his cheeseburger.

"Hey babe! Long time, no see. Why haven't you called me back? I missed you." says a familiar voice to Will, walking towards him.

"Goddammit." Will mutters as he reluctantly looks up towards the person walking towards him. "What the _fuck_ do you want, Charlie?"

"You," he simply replies.

* * *

**A/N: Seems the updates are pretty gonna be long-ish now. Anyway, the Adrienne/Justin/Sonny parts...I really tried to make it seem as realistic as possible. I've never had to face that so I didn't really know how to go about it. Those hardcore WilSon fans out there reading my fic will probably know why I had to go that route with Adrienne and Justin.**

**I've been noticing from the feedback of the last update that people haven't really picked up on subtle references to older WilSon episodes like the band from New Zealand (mentioned in the January 12, 2012 episode). So yeah, there's going to be a lot of references and spoilers for future chapters in these updates, just an FYI for everyone.**

**I have no life so I'm gonna include both Will and Sonny's class schedules for future references since the updates are pretty much gonna focus on high school. So here it is:**

**Sonny's junior year class schedule:**

Period 1- English Literature 3 (room 218)

2- Pre Calculus (room 114)

Home Room (room 210)

3- French 3 (room 117)

4- World History (room 207)

5- Lunch (cafeteria)

6- General Business (room 306)

7- Chemistry (room 321)

8- Study hall (auditorium)

9- Gym

**Will's junior year class schedule:**

Period 1- English Literature 3 (room 218)

2- World History (room 211)

Home Room (room 209)

3- Business Computer Applications (room 303)

4- Pre Calculus (room 117)

5- Lunch (cafeteria)

6- Spanish 3 (room 116)

7- Chemistry (room 321)

8- Study hall (auditorium)

9- Gym


	7. Chapter 7: Will and Charlie's Past

**A/N: Ok so before you read this, I must warn you that this is a VERY dark chapter. Not even exaggerating. It contains very sensitive subject matter so if you think you can't handle reading it then you should just scroll down where I will provide a summarized version of just the sensitive subject matter in this chapter. it was very hard to write it so it'll probably be just as bad to read it. there will be tears. You've been warned. Also, you've probably noticed that there is a lot of profanities throughout the updates...just wanted to point out it's going to continue. they ARE teenagers and i'm trying to make this realistic. With that being said, enjoy the update!**

**P.S: there is smut as well, just an FYI.**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

"We haven't seen each other for a few months and _now_ is when you decide you want me?"

"I haven't stopped thinking about you though. I kept hoping you would show up at The Spot again but I never saw you."

"I've been busy."

"With what?"

"None of your damn business."

"Feisty. It's such a turn on. I like it," the brunette man with green eyes replies as he bites his lower lip.

Will rolls his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

Charlie sits down at Will and Sonny's table, smirking at Will. "I saw you from a distance and just had to say hi. I also want to prove to you that I'm not the same guy you knew from before. I've changed."

"Why should I believe you? You're the bastard who has lied and ended us without even thinking twice about doing so."

Charlie grabs Will's hand from across the table but Will jerks it away. Charlie raises his arm to shield himself but realizes he overreacted to Will's action. Charlie notices Will's puzzled expression so he quickly tries to recover before Will can say anything. "Um…it's complicated. All you need to know is that I realized I fucked up and really just want to talk."

"Oh, you want to want to _talk_? Well, when you put it that way..…I still don't care. Please leave." Will looks away from him, trying to fight the tears threatening to fall when memories of what happened between them surface in his mind.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Charlie notices this and forces blue eyes to meet green ones. "Please let me make it up to you."

Will looks into his eyes, seeing a bit of remorse within their depths but quickly snaps out of it. Will is not going to let himself get sucked back into his game. "Fine, I forgive you. Now can you please go away? I'm not interested in hearing anything you have to say."

"By the way, is that guy a friend of yours?"

Will narrows his eyes at the question. "Yeah, why?"

"He's cute. Does he like to fool around? Tell him to give me a call." Charlie taunts and winks at Will.

Will glares at him, close to losing his patience but tries to control himself. "Seriously? Is this you being a changed man? Because all I see if the same douchebag from months ago."

"Alright, I'll stop. Old habits die hard, you know. This was fun but I have to be somewhere right now. Can we please talk sometime soon? Then if you really don't want anything to do with me, I promise I'll leave you alone."

"How will I know that you'll truly leave me alone once we've talked? What if you're just using that as an excuse?"

"Will, if you've ever felt anything for me in the past, then I ask you to just trust me this one time, please."

"Fine. I'll text you to let you know when I'm have time for our talk."

"That's all I ask. Thank you." Charlie is genuinely happy and lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. "I know I might be overstepping by saying this but you look great."

Will is surprised to see sincerity in Charlie's eyes but is still going to be guarded around him. "Thanks. That's sweet."

"I'll leave you alone now. Text me soon though. Anyway, take care of yourself, please." Charlie looks at Will with sadness in his eyes and a fake smile and walks away.

_What just happened? I mean, Charlie was being his usual asshole self, that's nothing new, but something was different about him. Could he actually have changed? And what was up with him putting his arm up like that?_ Will is lost in thought, unaware that Sonny saw the whole exchange, even though he didn't hear anything. Sonny finishes his phone call with Jaime and contemplates on whether to go back to the table now or give Will a minute to calm down. Sonny decides to go because maybe Will would want someone to talk to.

"I'm back. Sorry I took so long." Sonny takes his seat and starts to each his cheeseburger.

"It's ok. So how is Jaime?"

"He's good. We were just talking about random stuff like we did when I was over there."

"Cool."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?" Will raises an eyebrow.

"You and that guy seemed to be having a really tense conversation. Is he a friend of yours or something?" Sonny asks, concerned.

"Or something." Will looks at the time on his phone, noticing it's almost 4:30pm. "Damn, I wish we can hang out some more but I have to be at work in a bit."

"Oh. Alright, that's okay. Duty calls, right?"

"Yup. So do you want me to drop you off anywhere?"

"Actually yeah, would it be too much trouble if you could drop me off at Abby's house? She invited me to hang out with her and Chad."

"No trouble at all. Sounds like you're gonna have a great time."

Will and Sonny leave the sports center to make their way to the car in silence. Sonny finds it weird since usually Will would be cracking some kind of joke or talking about something random. Instead, Will is tense and distant. Sonny puts his hand on Will's shoulder and squeezes it reassuringly. Will looks at Sonny, his face is that of pure concern, so Will nods and gives a small smile. Sonny returns the smile. No words were necessary during the car ride to Abby's house, except for the sound of the two boys singing along with a few Asteroid Crush songs embarrassingly loud.

Arriving at Abby's house, Will turns to Sonny and says, "Here we are. How about I pick you up at 7:30 tomorrow for school so you can enjoy an extra hour of sleep and eat breakfast with your family?"

"Oh my god, extra sleep? I can't thank you enough!"

Will laughs at Sonny's happiness for extra sleep. "No problem. So, I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Definitely. Thanks for the ride...and hanging out with me...and comforting me earlier." Sonny looks at his hands to not look at Will. "It means a lot."

Will lifts up Sonny's chin to face him. "I care about you and I like hanging out with you." Both boys smile and Will brings his hand back to the steering wheel.

Sonny gets out of the car and goes inside Abby's house. Will drives off, almost to the next town, and parks a block away from his job. He notices he has a few minutes to spare before he has to start working so he calls Nick. Before Nick picks up the phone, an ambulance passes by and pulls in to the nearby hospital and startles Will. _So fucking loud._

"Hey Will."

"Hey Nick, what's up?"

"Not much, just trying out a new science experiment."

"How's that going for you?"

"Pretty good so far. Just need to write down the result in about 4 minutes."

"Oh sorry, didn't wanna interrupt your experiment."

"Don't worry about it. I always have time for my favorite cousin."

"You're awesome, you know that? You're my favorite cousin too, just don't tell anyone that. Don't want family fighting over me." Will teases but then becomes a little upset when he realizes what he just said.

"We all know I'd win anyway. So what's up?"

"Something just happened and I wanted to talk to you about it."

"Is something wrong?"

"No, I'm okay. I just...you're the only one who knows about this so please don't tell anyone, not even Kareem. You know how protective he can be."

"You can trust me, you know that. Now tell me because I'm starting to freak out a little here."

Will takes a deep breath. "I just ran into Charlie."

"Charlie?" Nick pauses for a moment to try remembering who that is. "Isn't that the guy from The Spot that—"

Will interrupts Nick because he doesn't want to remember how they actually met. "Yes, the one and only."

"Oh shit. What did he say?"

"He was kind of being a dick at first but then he seemed...just, not himself."

"Elaborate."

"I don't know how to explain it but he seemed to be a little...guilty. Like something happened to him to change him somehow. For example, he grabbed my hand and I yanked it away from him and he raised his arm like to shield himself. I don't know but it was weird."

Nick has a suspicion for what could be wrong but decides not to tell Will because it's too soon to tell if his assumption is right. "You're right, that does sound weird. So what are you going to do?"

"He told me he wanted a chance to explain things but I don't know if I should give him one."

"You should."

"What? Why?"

"You need closure. This guy left you without giving you reason. Because of that, you've never been the same relationship-wise."

"What are you talking about? That's not true."

"Don't lie. Kareem told me about your conversation earlier. He didn't question it because he doesn't know the whole truth but I do. You've never trusted anyone enough to make a commitment."

"Still don't see the point you're trying to make."

"Every time you date someone, it never goes past the first date. You always say it's because you never have time for a relationship but you do. You're just afraid of them doing what Charlie did to you. You owe it to yourself to find out what happened so you can actually have a chance to be happy with someone for once."

"You know, I hate it when you're right...and know everything."

Nick chuckles. "Really? I love being right and knowing mostly everything."

Will chuckles. "Okay, I'll text him a little later and I'll let him know that we can meet up tomorrow. Thanks for everything." Will is waiting for Nick to talk but there is a long pause. "Nick? You there?"

"Yeah, I'm here. Sorry about that. The four minutes just passed so I'm writing down the results."

"Oh okay, I'll let you get back to your experiment. Thanks again."

"No problem. And let me know how the Charlie thing works out for you, okay?"

"Will do. Bye."

"Bye."

Will is relieved after the talk with Nick. He usually goes to him for advice because he always seems to know just what to say. Will drives the rest of the way to the place he has to work and parks his car. He is nervous, but not because this is a new client. He is nervous because Ms. Robinson, the lady who was usually there, is out of town so he doesn't know who to expect. Deciding to finally get this job over with, he rings the doorbell and looks down. The door opens, revealing who is going to be there while Will works.

"Will?"

Will's eyes widen and lifts his head to face the person with the familiar voice. "Charlie?"

"Um...how did you know where I lived? I told you to text me so we could meet somewhere else. Unless you're here because you're—"

"The house cleaner? Yeah, that's me." Will looks away, ashamed at the situation. "I need the money so I go around looking for jobs like this to make ends meet."

"You don't owe me an explanation for what you do. Wait, do you live...by yourself?"

Will gives a small smile. "Thanks, that's really decent of you. I was kind of expecting you to make a smartass comment about it. But yeah, I've been living on my own for a few months already."

"There are things to make fun of and things you shouldn't. It's admirable; you're taking care of yourself when most people our age are partying all the time, myself included."

"Yeeeah." There is a long awkward pause. "So um...can I come in?"

"Oh right, sorry. Yes, come in." Charlie steps out of the way to allow Will to enter the house. "It's kind of awkward having you here cleaning the house for me. I don't want you to do it but I know you have to."

"Speaking of, Ms. Robinson is usually here when I come, is she your mom?"

"No, she's my aunt. She tends to come here once a week to make sure everything is in order in here and in her business but she lives in a mansion in Chicago."

"You said you lived here. How come I've never seen you here before?"

"That's a long story and I'd really rather not get into it right now."

"I understand. Well, I'll let you get back to what you were doing while I start cleaning." Before Will walks off to get the cleaning supplies, he really looks at Charlie and notices his eyes are red and his cheeks are tear stained. He hesitantly puts his hand on his shoulder but Charlie flinches and Will takes his hand away immediately. "Charlie, have you been crying?"

Charlie wipes his eyes and says, "NO! Even if I was, why do you care?"

"Just because we didn't have a good first meeting earlier, doesn't mean I like seeing you this way. I cared about you a lot at one point in my life."

"Don't worry about me, okay? I'll get out of your way so you can do your thing in peace."

"You stayed even though I told you to go away, now I'm just returning the favor. You said you wanted to talk earlier, right?" Charlie nods. "Well, I'm here now so you talk and I'll listen and clean, okay?"

"I see your stubbornness hasn't changed since our last time together."

"And I see your need to avoid opening up is still going strong."

"Touché. Let me just go grab my iPod so we can listen to music while you clean."

"Sounds good." Will turns to walk away when he hears Charlie chuckle. "What's so funny?"

"You, of course. I saw what you did there." Will looks confused so Charlie explains. "I said I was going to get my iPod to listen to music and you said 'sounds good.' I don't know, I thought it was pretty funny."

Will chuckles as well. "I said that on purpose but didn't think you'd actually laugh at the pun." Will grabs the cleaning supplies and starts dusting.

Charlie goes to his room, grabs his iPod and makes his way back to the living room to plug his iPod in. "Besides your sexiness, it was your humor and your confidence that made you attractive in my eyes." Charlie confesses.

"So what you're saying is that my top notch pick up line did absolutely nothing for you?" Will feigns being hurt.

Charlie laughs. "Oh right, what was it again?"

"Let me think for a minute here." Will thinks about it for a minute. "Oh, I remember! It was 'your name must be Google because you have everything I've been searching for.'"

They both laugh. "As soon as you said that, my heart started beating faster but then I figured you were drunk. Thought maybe it was the alcohol that was doing all the talking."

Will continues dusting while music continues to play in the background. "You thought I was drunk?"

"Well yeah, you had a drink in your hand at the time."

"Dude, that was coke. I was completely sober that night."

Charlie is shocked. "You're kidding."

"Nope, it's the truth."

"Did not expect that."

Will starts dusting other rooms of the house and Charlie follows him so they can continue talking. "What is so hard to believe about me being sober that night?"

"I've been going to The Spot every night for almost a year and no one has ever tried to get to know me or even pick me up. You were the first and the only one."

"Now you're the one who's lying. There's no way that you've never been picked up before. I mean look at you, you're gorgeous." Now Will is the one who is shocked. _How did I go from hating this guy to complimenting him within a matter of like an hour?_

Charlie is blushing and can't help the smile that forms on his lips. "Thanks but I'm okay I guess. Anyway, the guys at the club only see me as just another hole or mouth to shove their dicks into. After they finish, they leave without looking back." He puts his head down in shame. "Then you flirting with me made me feel good about myself for the first time in a really long time."

Will feels guilty replaying in his mind what happened next that night. He puts a big distance between him and Charlie. "I'm really sorry...about everything."

Charlie goes to grab Will's arm and pulls him towards the island in the kitchen so Will's back is against it as Charlie stands in front of Will. He lifts Will's chin up, blue eyes meeting green eyes in an intense gaze. "Don't be sorry. I wanted that to happen just as much, if not, more than you did. I don't regret it."

Will walks away and has his back to Charlie. "How can you say that? I pretty much used you the same way those sons of bitches did and it makes me feel sick to my stomach."

Charlie walks up to Will and turns him around so they're facing each other again. "You didn't use me. You made me feel like I mattered and I wanted to show you how much I appreciated it."

"By making me a moaning mess while you gave me a blowjob?" Will raises his eyebrow and they both laugh.

"You liked it and you know it." Charlie teases.

"True, but I liked you more." Will confesses with a sheepish smile on his face.

"You did?"

"Yes. I'll admit I was beyond stressed that day and went looking to have fun, maybe hook up with someone, but seeing you alone at the bar made me want to get to know you better instead of wanting to hook up."

"See, there you go again, making me feel like I matter. I'm truly lucky to have met you, Will Horton."

Will smiles and wraps his arms around Charlie's waist, pulling him close. Charlie wraps his arms around Will's neck and both look into each other's eyes. Will slowly leans in close to brush his lips with Charlie's, when the song playing in the background changes to one that Will loves. Will suddenly stops leaning towards him. "Oh my god, I love this song! Dance with me!"

Will lets the music control the movements of his body, losing himself to the rhythm of the song. Charlie is mesmerized by the gyration of Will's hips and how carefree Will seems. He stands flush behind Will, letting the movement of his body guide his own until they're both moving in unison, getting lost in the music. Both are having a great time. "Now that I know you love 'Electric Feel' from MGMT, I'm gonna put it on repeat so we can dance with you like this all day."

Will stops him. "No! As much as I wanna keep dancing with you, I need to clean this house already so stop distracting me." Will smiles at him and finishes with the dusting. Now he starts brooming the house and tidying up the place.

"Listen, I'm gonna go shower right now but I won't be long so help yourself to my iPod and the fridge, if you need."

"Thanks but I'm good. Now go shower so I can see you again." Will winks and Charlie smiles brightly then leaves.

Will continues to meticulously clean the house and make sure that everything is in its rightful spot. Without the distractions, the brooming and mopping are done relatively fast. It takes Will roughly a half hour to finish. He puts away the cleaning supplies and waits for Charlie to get out so they can talk a little more before he leaves. Will is completely surprised with the strange turn of events from this afternoon until now. Now that he doesn't have any distractions, he goes over what he's been meaning to ask but never got a chance to. That one question that has plagued his thoughts ever since that day when everything went to hell.

Charlie walks into the living room holding a shoe box and places it on the coffee table. "I'm back. Did you miss me?"

Will notices the box but doesn't ask about it yet. "What took you so long? You said it was going to be a quick shower."

"It was. I just decided to stay away so you can finish cleaning, that way I can have you all to myself so we can finish talking." Charlie notices Will keeps looking back and forth between him and the box so he walks up to him to take both of his hands in his own. "I saw it all over your face that you wanted to ask me something before but you didn't. I think I know what the question is."

Will raises his eyebrow. "Oh really?"

"Yeah, and the answer to that question is related to the contents of the shoe box I brought with me. We will get to that in a minute but first, the more important matter. I wanna dance with you again. A slow song this time."

"But I'm all sweaty right now and you just showered."

"So?"

"What do you mean 'so?'"

"Please don't make me tell you. I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable."

Will smiles mischievously. "When you put it that way, now I _have_ to know."

Charlie sighs. "Alright, I'll tell you but don't say I didn't warn you." He pauses and prepares himself for what might be an awkward moment. "The way you danced and me being pressed up against you, I got a little um…'happy' so I went to calm things down." Will tries not to laugh but he fails and laughs hysterically. "Why is that funny?"

"You act as though I didn't notice. You were pressed up against me so I _knew_. It's cute that you were so worried about it."

"So, what you're saying is that you wanted me to admit something that embarrassing for your own amusement?"

"Pretty much."

"You're a jerk!"

"I've heard that before. So about that slow dance..." Will trails off, hoping he gets his message across.

Charlie smiles. "Okay, hold on." He goes to change the music then hold out his hand for Will. "May I have this dance?" Will laughs and grabs his hand. They hold each other close and begin to sway with the music.

They're both looking into each other's eyes. "I love this." Will buries his face into the crook of Charlie's neck.

He kisses the top of Will's head and pulls him in even closer. A few moments later, he breaks the silence. "You looked beautiful that night."

"What night?"

"The night I broke your heart."

Will lifts his head to look into Charlie's eyes. "How would you know? You weren't there."

A few tears escape Will's eyes and Charlie gently wipes them away. "I was there. You were wearing a black suit with a dark blue button down and a black tie."

Will is surprised because Charlie was right. "Why didn't I see you there then?"

They stop swaying and Charlie leads Will to the couch so they can continue talking. "I didn't want you to see me that day but I saw you sitting at a table in that Italian restaurant for our first date."

"Why didn't you sit with me?"

"I just couldn't face you because you deserved better than me."

"Don't give me that excuse. What's the real reason?"

"I can't tell you."

"You broke my heart and left me there without giving me a reason why. This whole time I was thinking that you never cared about me. I lost so much for you, for nothing. So you better fucking tell me."

Charlie takes a deep breath. "My parents never knew I was hooking up with guys; mostly just handjobs or blowjobs, never full on sex at first. One day last year, I invited a guy to my room, thinking my parents weren't home. Then they both went into my room to tell me dinner was ready and caught me making out with the guy. They threw him out and my father started to beat me out of disgust for what I was doing. The next day, they sent me to some camp to 'cure homosexuality.' When I came back after a few months, I managed to convince them I was 'fixed.' Things were going great for a while." Charlie chokes back a few tears that are threatening to escape but continues. "I managed to cover my tracks pretty well but then I got a little careless because they found out I've been lying to them. The day of our date, I had bought a bouquet of roses to give you and left it on my bed when I went to shower. They apparently read the note and confronted me after I was already dressed." His voice cracks and tears are falling freely. "They didn't take it very well."

Will rubs his back to comfort him and feels sick to his stomach. He does not like where this story is going. "What happened?"

"My father started beating me and said no son of his was going to be a faggot. He also said that if the camp didn't work then he had to beat the faggot out of me."

Charlie breaks down and Will hugs him tightly. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry that happened to you, babe. What about your mom? What did she do?"

"My mom just stood there and watched him beat the shit out of me until I lost consciousness. Never even lifted a finger or said anything to stop him."

"I can't believe parents like that exist in this world. They're monsters."

"That's an understatement. I took pictures of what he did and made sure the date was on it so I can use it against him one day." Charlie shows Will the pictures and Will is crying.

"Why haven't you shown them to the cops yet?"

"He found out about what I was going to do and threatened to kill me. He said who is going to believe some faggot anyway and also said he wished he had succeeded in killing me that day."

Will grits his teeth in outrage. "That fucking bastard. If I ever see that Neanderthal, I'll fucking choke the life out of him for what he did to you. You're amazing, you know that, right? Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. But wait, if he beat you, then how did you see me at the restaurant?"

"After he beat me when he found out about our date and I regained consciousness, I put the pictures into this shoe box. Then I immediately went to the restaurant to see if you were there." Charlie laces his fingers with Will's and continues. "It broke my heart when I saw you there because I've been looking forward to our date but I couldn't let you see me like that so I left because I thought you were better off without me. Then I went to the hospital and lied to the police by saying it was a mugging."

Will put his other hand on his face, caressing it, and bringing their foreheads together. "You should've told me. I would've been there for you. So is this why you live here now?"

"There's nothing that you could've done to help but thank you for saying that. Yes it is. You're the only person who knows about this so please don't tell anyone."

"Of course. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

"Thank you." Charlie pulls away to put away the pictures and takes something else out of the box. "I kept this in the hopes that one day I can finally give it to you in person." He hands him the note from the bouquet and one of the roses that is now dried up. He also shows him the pictures he took of Will sitting at the table in the restaurant.

Will reads it out loud:

"Dear Will. The day I met you was truly a blessing I never knew could ever happen for me. You showed me that maybe good things are possible in a world full of pain. You're my miracle. Nothing could rival the inner and outer beauty you possess, not even these roses. Love, Charlie. P.S. I've been looking forward to this date since we first met."

Will looks at him with tear-filled eyes and hugs him. Will pulls away slightly to place a sweet kiss on his lips. Charlie then says, "Okay, enough with the sad stuff. Now that I finally got my chance to explain what happened, I can die in peace."

"Why did you say it like that? Is there something else you're hiding?"

Charlie clears his throat in an attempt to explain his unintended slip up. "It's a figure of speech, babe. Nothing to worry about." He pecks Will's lips. Charlie hears that 'I Miss You' by Incubus is playing on his iPod. "Every time I hear this song, it reminds me of you. I missed kissing you. I missed holding you in my arms. I missed looking into your bright blue eyes. I just missed you so much."

"I missed you too. So much but I'm here now so let's just enjoy that the air was cleared between us and get to know each other again. I'll even use another pick up line on you." Charlie chuckles and nods his head.

Charlie leans in to give Will a kiss that starts slow but quickly becomes more passionate, heated and needy. Tongues rediscovering the taste and feeling of the mouth thought to be lost forever, battling for dominance. He pulls Will on top to straddle his thighs without breaking the kiss. Their hands glide anywhere they can reach and touch. Will runs his fingers through the short curls of the green-eyed brunette's hair, grinding his hips, eliciting and swallowing moans. Charlie lifts him and lays him down on the couch to lay on top of him. Charlie sucks, nips and licks the length of Will's neck and trails to his collarbone, leaving light marks along the way.

He lifts his head to catch his breath and take the opportunity to appreciate the boy laying under him; those lust filled blue eyes, kiss-swollen ruby lips, the sound of him panting, his hardening cock pressing against his thigh. "You look so beautiful. Let me just look at you so I can remember this moment and treasure it always."

Will smiles and nods. _Why does he keep talking that way? He's been acting strange since we first saw each other again after all those months._

"Will, I'm going to ask you something. You can say no if you want to but I wanted your permission first."

Will raises an eyebrow. "My permission for what?"

"Can I suck your dick?" Will's eyes widen. He is speechless and is taking a long time to respond. "I know it's random but I want to do it. I want to make you feel good after all you've done for me today. It meant so much to me. More than you'll ever know." Will is still speechless but nods slightly. "Thank you baby."

Will lifts himself up from the couch so that he is now sitting. Charlie covered Will's mouth with his own in an aggressive kiss. Charlie is undoing Will's belt and jeans, pulling down Will's boxers. He takes out Will's cock, and he gasps. "It's even bigger than I remember. I wanna taste you so fucking bad." Charlie drops to his knees between Will's spread legs. His warm tongue teases the head; lapping the slit, making Will arch his back and groan with approval of what was happening.

He licks his way from the tip of his cock slowly down the base, breathing in the scent of Will's masculinity, then licking back to the tip. His tongue swirls around the head before licking the underside of Will's hard cock, applying more pressure with his skilled tongue. Will grabs Charlie hair, gasping when his gorgeously plump lips surround him, swallowing him deep into his throat. Will moans and gasps as Charlie sucks, moving up and down the shaft, hitting the back of his throat every time. He has vast experience in sucking cock that his gag reflex is virtually nonexistent.

The sight of Charlie's head bobbing between his legs is too much. He tilts his head back, closing his eyes to revel in the pleasure that was consuming him. Charlie applies slight pressure as he drags his teeth over the hard length until he reaches the head. He places a gentle kiss to the tip, sliding Will quickly down his throat and cupping his balls, rolling them in his hand.

"Oh my god….Charlie!" Will tightens his grip on Charlie's hair as he feels Charlie swallow him, the muscles moving around his pulsing cock.

The living room is filled with the sucking and slurping sounds coming from Charlie working his mouth to pleasure Will. Will is panting and groaning as Charlie relentlessly continues to swallow around him, continuing to edge him to the point of ecstasy. Will's addictive moans start becoming louder, signaling that he is about to come, which makes Charlie hollow his cheeks and begin to suck him harder and faster. He realizes in this moment how much he loved and missed Will's sounds. They turn him on more than he ever felt with anyone else. He feels himself getting close so he makes quick work of undoing his own pants and jerking himself off.

"So…..close…I'm…g-gonna…"

Charlie pulls off of Will's cock with a loud pop. "Cum for me, baby. I wanna taste you and feel your cum sliding down my throat." He quickly takes him back into his mouth. Charlie's words and the sight of his head continuing to move between his legs was enough. Will grabs the back of Charlie's head as he lets out loud moan as he exploded, shooting his warm cum down his throat, swallowing every last drop eagerly.

Charlie keeps Will's cock in his mouth, suckling it until his cock stopped pulsing, and then slowly slides his lips up his length, lapping his tongue at the head before letting it go. He cums in his hand shortly after Will recovers from immense pleasure that overtook him. He takes a deep breath before he sits next to Will on the couch, stroking his hair while he licks his own cum from his hand.

"Geez Charlie, that was fucking amazing. Thank you for that." Will gives him a lingering kiss then rests his head on Charlie's chest.

"Anything for you, baby." Charlie lays down on the couch and pulls Will on top of him. "Rest, baby. I don't want you getting into an accident when you go back home."

Will takes a quick nap while Charlie continues stroking his hair and silently crying. A half hour passes when Will finally wakes up with a smile. He sees Charlie also took a nap so he gives him a kiss to wake him up. He has to leave and doesn't want to do so without giving him a proper goodbye kiss. Charlie slowly wakes up to see Will's angelic face staring at him with a wide smile.

"You're beautiful."

"And you're amazing. I wish I could stay in your arms and listen to your heart beat all night until I sleep but I unfortunately have to go." Will pouts.

"I understand. Thank you for an amazing day, Will. It was the best day of my life. I will remember it always." He stands up to wrap his arms around Will's waist and kiss him passionately.

"I'm really happy to hear it was the best day of your life but I'm also really sorry for how I acted in the beginning. This is one of the greatest days of my life too because I have you and I don't plan on letting you go."

"Don't be sorry. I totally deserved that. I'm the one who is sorry for everything. I was only being a dick to you because that's kind of like my defense mechanism. Sometimes I can't control it."

"Consider it forgotten. We are starting off with a clean slate. Let's just get to know each other again and maybe we can make it official."

"I'd like that." Charlie smiles. "Oh, here is the envelope my aunt left for me to give to you for cleaning the house."

"She put it in an envelope this time? That's weird because she never does that."

"Maybe she wanted to change things up this time."

"Yeah, maybe." They both chuckle. "Alright, good night handsome and I'll hopefully see you tomorrow."

"Oh wait, don't forget about the note and the flower. I want you to have them."

"Thank you. I was hoping you'd say that." Will smiles and winks. "Anyway, good night for real this time."

Will hugs and kisses him. When he pulls away, Charlie tightens his grip and holds him just a little bit longer. He reluctantly lets go and reaches for his hand to lead him to the door. Will kisses the back of Charlie's hand that is holding his own. With one final kiss on the lips, Will walks out of the door and into his car. He waves to Charlie, who returns the wave, and he drives off.

Charlie walks into the house and closes the door behind him. He finally lets out the culmination of raw emotions through tears that he's been trying so hard to hide. He goes to the bathroom to lie in the tub. "I gave you your closure. Now there's nothing stopping me from doing what has to be done. I need to end this misery. It's better this way." Charlie takes out the razor blade from the medicine cabinet and goes back to the tub. Through his tears and chanting "it's better this way" repeatedly, he slashes his wrists. "Goodbye Will Horton. You made my life meaningful just by being in it." He watches his life slip through his fingers as he slowly closes his eyes.

As soon as he drives away from Charlie's house, he can't stop smiling because he feels that all of the pieces in his life have finally fallen into place. He can finally be happy. He searches his iPhone for 'I Miss You' and can't help smiling even wider when it starts playing. While he is at a red light, he glances over at the envelope and opens it. "Sweet, gotta love pay day. What's this? A letter? That's weird." He looks up at the red light and thinks for a minute. "I don't have time to read this so I'll just skim through it. It's probably just Ms. Robinson telling me how awesome I am." He smirks but it's quickly wiped off his face. "What the fuck is this? It's from Charlie. 'By the time you read this, I'll already be dead.' Holy shit, what did you do?!"

Will breaks several traffic laws to drive back to Charlie's house and calls the ambulance on his way back. Once he arrives, the ambulance is just pulling up to the property. He uses the spare key to open the door and runs up the stairs. He notices the bathroom light is on but the horrific sight before him brings him to his knees right in front of the tub. "Oh god, why?! CHARLIE!" Will breaks down, letting out a blood-curdling scream.

The paramedics quickly take charge of the situation. "I'm sorry sir but you need to step away so we can save your friend." Will quickly gets out of the way and the paramedics take his place. "Good lord, this boy lost a lot of blood. Quick, give me the hand towels to apply pressure on the wounds." Will hands them over. "Check to see if he has a pulse." The female paramedic orders and the male paramedic goes to check.

Will is frantic. "Does he still have a pulse?!"

* * *

**A/N: For those who didn't have the heart to read the update, I don't blame you, honestly. So basically, Charlie and Will met at a club and hit it off. When they were going to have their first date, Charlie never shows up and Will is devastated. Time has passed and he didn't know why he never showed up. Charlie and Will have a talk where he confesses that his parents walked in on him and another guy making out in his room. The father became violent, insulted him, and sent him to a camp to "cure homosexuality." Charlie came back months later pretending to be "cured" but basically continued being with guys. The parents believed it until they found a bouquet of roses with a note addressed to Will on the day of their first date. the father was furious and beat Charlie until he lost consciousness while the mom sat back and did nothing to stop it. when he woke up, he took pictures of his injuries and documented meticulously to use against his dad one day soon. The father found out and threatened his life. he also said he wished he succeeded in killing his own son. all of that became too much for Charlie that after Will left his house, he slashed his wrists.**


	8. Chapter 8: A Look Into Will's Past

**First of all, sorry for kind of traumatizing you guys with what happened to Charlie towards the end in the previous chapter. It wasn't in the original plans to add an attempted suicide or the character of Charlie but it kind of just went in that direction. In a way, it's a good thing because I want people to see that suicide is never the answer. They think they're doing people a favor by ending their lives, but it's not.**

**Second, all of the hospital scenes will be depicted as realistically as possible, with the help of Amanda aka Heidi13 (the amazing author of "Twist of Fate" and many other stories on here so check them out if you haven't yet...highly recommended.) since she has to deal with this sort of situation as her job. Thank you so much for everything, Amanda!**

**A/N: this chapter won't be as heavy as the previous update but their may or may not be sadness, depending on how emotional you are lol. Also, in the flashback sequence (the section that is all in italics), Will didn't mention Kareem only because they became friends after the incident they mentioned; thought you should know. Since Will's past has been kind of a mystery, I thought we should discover a little bit about him in this update. Next chapter will focus more on Sonny, then Charlie.**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

"Yes. Your friend has a pulse but it's very shallow. Let's get him out of here and into the ambulance fast. Just because he has a pulse, doesn't mean he's out of the woods just yet."

"Thank god! I don't what I would've done if I lost you when you just came back to me." Will stares intensely at Charlie as the paramedics put him on the gurney and wheel him out of the bathroom to the ambulance.

While they're wheeling Charlie to the ambulance, the female paramedic comments to Will. "You know, your friend here is lucky because we've been busier than usual for the past few days. Today was the first day where the hospital was relatively quiet but it definitely helps that the house is nearby. If you hadn't called us when you did, we might have been too late to save him. It's almost like you're his—"

Will finishes her statement. "Miracle."

The female paramedic looks confused. "Yeah. How did you know I was going to say that?"

"He calls me his miracle. I never really believed it until I heard what you said."

She smiles. "He's very lucky to have you."

Will's heart breaks from the guilt. "I don't know about that."

Charlie is finally in the ambulance and the male paramedic speaks. "Sir, do you want to ride along with us?"

"Hell yeah I want to." Will replies without hesitation and jumps into the vehicle before the paramedics can process his answer. He sits down next to an unconscious Charlie and lazily runs his fingers though his short, curly brown hair. "You're going to be okay, baby. You have to be."

They arrive at the hospital and he is immediately attended by the doctors on duty. Will is forced to stay in the waiting room, hoping that Charlie knows he is with him in spirit even though he can't be there for him in person just yet. Without being given much of a choice, Will sits down on a chair that is situated at the back left corner of the room. Thoughts are going at a mile a minute, trying to figure out what went wrong and what he could've done to stop it. He feels an unpleasant tightening in his chest with each passing minute of uncertainty, having to wonder if Charlie survived or if he has failed him. He quickly shakes those thoughts out of his head, immediately replacing them with positive ones. _You're going to get better. I just know it. Then we can finally go to that Italian restaurant together. We'll finally have the date that was stolen from us. Then you can pay the bill because I'm broke and that place is expensive._ He chuckles to himself as he thinks about Charlie laughing with him for being a cheap date as his eyes water.

Will finds himself pacing in the waiting room because he can't take sitting on an uncomfortable chair while his friend is fighting for his life in a nearby room. The sterile environment makes Will feel uneasy as the smell of sickness tries to envelop him in its unforgiving grasp. A woman with sadness in her eyes is sitting a few chairs away from him. Will meets her gaze as she send him a small smile, un unspoken reassurance that things will be fine in the end. Will responds in kind.

Will sits back down and looks at his hands, plays with a loose string from his shirt, bites his nails—_anything_—to keep from going crazy thinking about the fact that maybe Charlie is gone, leaving the world feeling more alone than humanly possible. _Please be okay. Your life can't end right now. Especially not like this. _Will's heart breaks, tears flowing down the wet trails already on his face.

The uncertainty weighed down on him, making a few minutes feel like a lifetime waiting for answers. Then finally, a doctor approaches the waiting room and stands in front of Will. "The paramedics said you came in with Charlie."

Will jumps up from his seat and wiping away is tears before answering the doctor. "Yes, that's me. Is he ok?"

"I'm sorry but I cannot give out that information since you're not a relative of the patient. We've stabilized him so you can go see him if you want."

"Yes please. I'd really like to see him."

The young doctor smiles at him. "Follow me. I'll take you to his room."

"Thank you, Doctor…?"

"Doctor Amanda Massey but you can just call me Doctor Amanda." She says with a smile, holding out her hand, which Will shakes.

"It's nice to meet you, despite the circumstances. I'm Will." He smiles. "Now, about Charlie…?"

"Right this way." She leads Will to Charlie's room but stops him before opening the door. "Before I let you in, I need you to be clear one thing. If and when he wakes up, I don't want you agitating him in any way or you will no longer be allowed to visit him. Are we clear?"

"Crystal. Charlie getting better is the only thing that matters right now."

"Glad to hear it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to check on my other patients." Dr. Amanda leaves.

Will is left alone, with his hand on the door knob. He takes a deep breath to brace himself for what lies on the other side of the door. The door knob is turned and the sight causes him to gasp; Charlie is lying on the hospital bed, hooked up to machines and IVs, and a tube going down his throat to help him breathe. It is a heartbreaking scene to take in, realizing how truly helpless and vulnerable he looks as he fights for his life. Will tentatively walks up to his bedside, placing a sweet kiss on his forehead then sits down to silently look at the boy who was laughing and smiling about an hour ago.

"Hey handsome." Will's voice cracked. "I don't know if you can hear me but you need get better soon. I meant what I said earlier; I'm here and won't go anywhere. Whether you like it or not, now you're the one who is stuck with me." Will grabs Charlie's hand and is slightly taken aback by the restraints. "It sucks that your life was so horrible but you can't just give up. You need to fight so you can show your son of a bitch parents that they haven't won. Don't give them that satisfaction because they sure as hell don't deserve it. You need to live a long and happy life that you've been robbed of so far."

Suddenly Will remembers that during his freaking out about whether or not the brunette boy was going to live or die, he forgot to call Ms. Robinson. He didn't give the nurses any information about Charlie because they asked for a contact phone number for his parents. Will practically seethed thinking to himself that they don't have a right to know what was going on. They never cared before and probably still don't. He pulls out his phone to call Ms. Robinson but to no avail since it went straight to voicemail. _Hello, this is Claire Robinson. Leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as I can._ Will decides to leave a message but not specifying anything about what happened while still making sure she knew it was an emergency. _Hey Ms. R, it's Will. Listen, there was an emergency and I really need you to call me back when you get this, please. It's really important._ Will relaxes a little bit after calling her, despite having to give her the bad news once she calls back.

So many different emotions are plaguing Will right now, but there is one emotion that confuses Will; he feels something but isn't exactly sure what this feeling is yet. Being in the hospital room looking at Charlie reminds Will of the nostalgic feeling he got when they were discussing their past earlier. He also thought back to other memories they shared before they lost touch. In the past, Charlie was always Will's biggest weakness because he fell so hard for him in such a short time. As Will sits there looking at Charlie while running his thumb over Charlie's knuckles, he thinks back to one of the moments they shared. One particular memory keeps running through Will's head that reminds him of how he truly fell for the brunette boy just a little more each day since they first met.

_Will was waiting in park area just outside of Horton Town Square waiting for Charlie to arrive. 'Geez, what's taking Charlie so long? He was supposed to be here already, unless…' Will was brought out of his thoughts by an angry voice._

_"I thought we were best friends, but I guess not because you couldn't even tell your best friend that you're a fairy?" T shouted at in a voice laced with utter disgust._

_"We _are_ best friends but I don't see what that has to do with me liking guys and girls." Will raised his eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest._

_"Don't you think that would've been something I should know about? I don't want you getting any ideas that I'm interested in you or anything."_

_"No, I really don't see the relevance of you knowing who I choose to date or not because it's none of your damn business. I hate to break it to you but you're not my type, T. I would never even consider dating you so get over yourself."_

_"Oh yeah, that's why you would invite me to the lake, so you can see me with my shirt off and have your chance to fuck me?"_

_"What?! Geez T, I'm bisexual, not a fucking rapist with bad taste."_

_T scoffed. "Please, you wouldn't know good taste if it bit you in the ass. You're the one that has low standards if you don't think I'm hot enough for you, not that I would want date you anyway but still."_

_"Don't listen to him, Will. He's probably this offended because he's secretly in love with you and can't stand your rejection." Charlie walked up to them and winked at Will, fueling T's anger even more._

_"Shut the fuck up, you queer, or I'll—"_

_"Or you'll what?" Charlie got in T's face, clearly showing no signs of backing down._

_"I'll beat you and disfigure your pretty face up." T managed to say with wavering confidence, but Charlie easily saw through it._

_Charlie laughed in T's face. "Oh, I'm sorry. Was that supposed to scare me?" He took a step closer to T, their noses touched for a brief moment before T stepped back to look away. "Ok listen, why don't you leave Will and I alone before you embarrass yourself by having to go to school tomorrow and explain to everyone how a 'fairy' managed to kick your scrawny little ass without breaking a sweat."_

_"So Will, you can't fight your own battles now? You need this one saving you?"_

_"No, he doesn't need me saving him. You can talk shit about me all you want. You and your opinions aren't even important enough for me to _try _caring. But as soon as you started attacking Will with your bullshit, you made this my battle too. I will always be there to defend him from little shits like you."_

_Will looked at Charlie. "Thank you, that's very sweet, but I can handle this." Will then turned to face T. "We were best friends for years and always had each other's backs. Are you really going to throw that all away just because I'm into girls and guys?" T doesn't answer. "I guess I got my answer. Well, it's nice seeing your true colors for once. I guess being your best friend for years doesn't really mean much."_

_"Well? Get the fuck out of here already. Unless…" Charlie smiled mischievously, jumping at the chance to make T uncomfortable. Charlie pulled Will towards him so they were flush against each other. "…you wanna see us making out again, but in person this time." Charlie cupped Will's face with both hands and slowly leaned towards him._

_"Ugh, gross. Whatever, I'm out of here." T left but not without first giving them a disgusted look for what they were about to do. Charlie pulled away from Will and they both laughed._

_"Were you actually gonna fight him, and risk getting hit, for me?"_

_"Hell yeah! You're a really good friend and I'd do anything for you. It's not like I've never been hit before." Charlie said the last line with a hint of sadness in his voice but Will didn't notice. "But anyway, let's forget about him."_

_"You're amazing. You know that, right? Although you were kind of a douche to him."_

_"That wouldn't have happened if he wasn't being a dick. Weird. I love dick but I didn't like him."_

_"Charlie! What the fuck?!" Will shook his head but chuckled._

_"What? It's the truth!" Charlie guided them to sit on the bench, and draped one arm on Will's shoulders as Will laid his head on Charlie's shoulder. "So, what is it that you wanted to talk about? Your text said to meet you here because it was important…with 4 exclamation points."_

_"It was nothing. I just sent you that text to see if you would actually come here if I needed you in case of an emergency."_

_"And you say _I'm _the douche? Of course I would come here. It actually hurts that you had a doubt about it."_

_"I'm sorry. I guess with what Ruby did to me, I lost a lot of friends over it. Out of all my friends, I only have Abby, Chad, Mel, Nick and some of the guys from the tennis team now. I was hoping I wouldn't lose you too, even though you go to a different school."_

_"You're better off without the ones who turned their back on you. Why keep them if won't even have your back when shit goes down? Your ex girlfriend is a crazy bitch though, especially for going through with it. It'll take a lot more to get rid of me. You're stuck with me." Charlie kissed the top of Will's head._

_"Good, because you're the one friend that I would've been devastated to lose. Your friendship is very important to me."_

_"Same. I do feel bad though because this whole thing was kind of my fault. If we hadn't—" Charlie looked guilt ridden._

_"Don't you dare apologize for that! I wanted it just as much as you did. If anything, making out with you that day kinda did me a favor because, for the first time in my life, I'm finally free. No more hiding."_

_"You should feel proud. It's a huge step." Charlie smiled at Will and held his gaze. "Seriously though, why would I want to lose you? You're kind, smart, smooth with your ridiculously cheesy pick up lines, which I _still_ wonder how you were able to pick me up with, by the way." They both laughed hysterically. "Oh and let's not forget that you're also sexy as hell and a really great kisser."_

_Will lifted his head from Charlie's shoulder to look at him. "You're not so bad yourself, mister." Will winked at him and placed a hand on Charlie's thigh, squeezing it lightly. "Is it bad that I wish he stayed long enough for us to kiss?"_

_"Definitely not bad at all. I kinda hoped he'd stay too." Will leaned upwards to place a chaste kiss on Charlie's lips. "Why did we agree to just be friends again? I swear, it's like your lips are my addiction."_

_Will laughed. "Addiction? You exaggerate. I'm not that special. But that was _your_ genius idea though."_

_"Yes you are. You may not be perfect, but you're perfect for me, William Robert Horton. Never forget that." Charlie captured Will's lips in a sweet, lingering kiss._

Will is pulled out of the flashback by a nurse calling him. "Sir? Sir, can you hear me?"

"Yes, I'm sorry. What were you saying?"

"I'm sorry sir but visiting hours are almost over so say your goodbyes. Also, can you please contact a family member as soon as possible?"

"I already called his aunt but she didn't answer so I left a message. I don't know his parents' number." Will didn't try to hide his hateful tone at the word 'parents.'

"Thank you. You have a couple of minutes left so I'll leave you two alone." The nurse leaves.

Will turns to Charlie and smiles. "I have to go now baby but I'll be back tomorrow after work to check up on you again. Please feel better, okay?" Will kisses the hand he's been holding when he notices something on Charlie's forearm. He turns it to inspect and what he sees makes his stomach churn for the second time tonight. He checks his other forearm and it has the same thing. Both are covered with scars, older and newer ones. "Oh god, what have you done to yourself? You've got some explaining to do when you wake up, mister." He kisses his forehead and leaves his room.

Will goes to the restroom to splash cold water on his face to try processing everything that happened today. Once he's feeling more collected, he starts walking to Ms. Robinson's house to get his car and go home. The drive is in silence, letting his thoughts take over. He reluctantly grabs Charlie's suicide letter when he gets out of the car to unlock the door to his apartment. After undressing and getting ready for bed, he keeps contemplating whether or not to read the letter. _Maybe the letter has answers as to why Charlie did what he did. Then again, maybe it's just going to say his final goodbye and I don't know if I can handle that right now._ He sighs. _What an emotionally exhausting day._ The letter seems to stalk Will because whenever he looks, he always manages to catch a glimpse of it. The decision is made. _Fine, I'll just read it and get it over with._

Flopping on the couch, he takes a few deep breaths to calm down. _You can do this, Horton. Just man up._ Finally, he reads the letter:

_My sweet Will, my miracle:_

_By the time you read this, I'll already be dead. Promise me you won't be sad or blame yourself for it because none of this was your fault. Honestly, you were the only thing keeping me alive for this long. After the night of our first date, I never contacted you again because if you knew what happened, you would've tried to help me and I didn't want to put you in danger. Things got even worse than what I told you about after that night, but I made a promise to myself at the hospital: a promise to find you and tell you the truth about that night, no matter what I have to endure until then. Now that you finally know the truth and forgive me, there was nothing stopping me from finally ending this torment. As you've said once before: "I'm finally free."_

_Today has been the happiest day of my life because I finally got to see you again after months of thinking that would never happen. Holding you in my arms with your head resting on my chest and kissing you reminded me of those times months ago when we were truly happy. I guess there's no point in keeping from you that I love you. Not sure when it happened but it did; I'm in love with you. Again, thank you so much for the chance to explain things and letting me thank you in that way, you know what I'm talking about. What better way to leave this world than to give the person you love the only thing you know for sure you're good at, right? It's the only thing I was ever good for. In a twisted way, it's like I died with a part of you that will always be inside me._

_I'm aware that I'm worthless and nowhere near being someone you deserve so I truly hope you find someone who you love and who will love you with every fiber of their being. __After seeing how happy you were, it felt wrong to stay and ruin it for you. I didn't want to be a burden for you. You have your own problems to deal with and I just would've added to it. I always do. The world would be better off without another fucked up teenager like me. Nobody needs me around. Sometimes it feels like nobody wants me around, not even the two people who are supposed to love me unconditionally. Maybe the only way to finally get their love and acceptance is for me to just end my miserable existence so they won't have to keep being disappointed by me. So, if you really think about it, this is a win-win for everyone. I want to be a little selfish here by telling you to never forget me, but I can't bring myself to inflict that kind of pain on you so please, as a final favor to me, forget everything about me and pretend we never met. Erase me from your memory and from your heart. I don't deserve to be in either one. It's better this way._

_I love you,_

_Charlie_

A choked out "fuck" is all Will could manage to say as he curls up on the couch and cries, clutching on to the letter until sleep overtakes him. That night, Will's dreams are flooded with memories of Charlie and wonders how he couldn't see the pain he was carrying back then.

The next morning, Will is startled awake by his phone's alarm going off. He sits up with a groan, due to the kink in his neck, which makes him regret sleeping on the couch. Getting ready for school while half asleep proves to be an interesting challenge but he does what he can. Will is looking for his boots when he hears his phone ring. _Could it be Ms. R leaving a voicemail?_ He rushes to his phone and sees it's a text from Sonny.

**Sonny:**

Hey dude, good morning. Texting to make sure you remembered me _7:34 AM._

_Fuck. I completely forgot._

**Will:**

Sorry man, it was a rough night. I'll be there in a few _7:35 AM._

**Sonny:**

Are you sure? I could always get a ride from Abby if you can't come _7:35 AM._

**Will:**

It's ok. I'm already on my way right now so don't worry _7:35 AM._

**Sonny:**

Ok, see you soon _7:36 AM._

_Now, where did I leave my boots? Ah, there you are._ Will is finally ready to head out the door but stops to grab a protein bar. _Geez, why is it so chilly today? Good thing I have a scarf in the car. _Once he gets into the car, he puts on the scarf and already feels more comfortable. A few minutes later and he's pulling up in front of Sonny since he was waiting outside.

Sonny gets in the car. "Whoa, you look like shit."

Will glares at Sonny. "Well good morning to you too, Sonny."

Sonny is mortified because he didn't mean for that to come out of his mouth. "Oh my god, I'm sorry! What I meant to say was that work must've sucked."

Will's eyes widen but keeps them focused on the road and clears his throat. "Uh…yeah, in more ways than one. Didn't get much sleep either." Will notices that Sonny was about to question him on what he meant so he quickly changes the subject. "So what did you, Abby and Chad end up doing yesterday?"

"We just watched a few episodes of _Game of Thrones_, then we went out to eat at a place that had a karaoke night so Chad and Abby sang on stage."

"Oh god, please tell me you recorded that!"

"As tempting as it was, I didn't. I ended up talking to Melanie most of the night."

"Melanie? I thought you said it was just the three of you?"

"Oh, she stopped by so she can drop off something for Abby and she asked Melanie if she wanted to hang out."

"Sounds like you had a great time then. Melanie is a cool girl and she's pretty hot too."

"Yeah, she's really easy to talk to and really down to earth. We even have our own insider already."

"Oh yeah? That's great. Are you guys going to hang out again?"

"Well, we have like 4 classes together and we were also going to hang out later. You should come."

"Can't. I have to work at the pub today and then I have to be somewhere after that."

"Oh, okay. Next time then." Sonny says with a tone of disappointment in his voice.

"Definitely."

The school day progresses relatively slow since today isn't a shortened schedule like the day before. Countless students wander the halls like zombies, wishing for time to go by faster so they can finally leave. Both Will and Sonny meet up at lunch time to complain about the soulless teachers who decided to pile on the homework on the first official day. Will wasn't hungry so for the remainder of lunch time, he has his head on the table, trying to catch up on sleep. However, Sonny spends his time talking to Melanie, since this was one of their mutual classes. When the bell rang, Sonny wakes Will up so he knows it's time to go to his next class. A few more classes later and it's time to go to their Chemistry class. Will makes it earlier due to the previous teacher being gracious enough to let the class leave a minute earlier. Sonny leaves his books at the lab table and goes to the restroom.

"This might be the best class I've had in my whole high school career." Will smirks as he talks to Kareem.

"Seriously? Why? Chemistry is impossible. I'm so going to fail this class."

"Two words: Mister Collins."

"Agreed. I would gladly bend over his desk and let him have his way with me as extra credit anytime he wants." Kareem winks at Will.

Will and Kareem high five each other. "He looks like he'd be great in bed. He has to be. I mean, he's sexy as fuck!"

"Will Horton?" Mr. Collins calls out, causing Will to freeze.

"Y-yes…um, sir?"

"Please stay for a little while after class. I need to speak with you privately."

"Okay." Will blanches. _Oh god, what if he heard me? Fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK!_ "Well, it was nice knowing you. I might have to transfer out of his class and avoid him until I graduate from college. Maybe even longer than that." Will says, burying his face into his hands.

"Unless, he wants to show you that you were right about him being great in bed." Kareem chuckles when he sees Will blushing.

"You're an ass for putting those images in my head. If I get a boner in class because of you, I'll hunt you down." Will glares and Kareem laughs hysterically.

Sonny, Nick, T and Scarlet make their way to their seats a few minutes before class starts. Mr. Collins makes the topic more appealing to the students by being engaging and taking his time thoroughly explaining the material. Will can't concentrate because there are too many thoughts racing through his mind, mainly why Mr. Collins wants to see him after class. Every student wishes time to go by quicker but Will is praying to time to go slowly, prolonging the inevitable. Will is sweating, fumbling with his scarf and decides to take it off before he overheats. That's when he feels eyes on him, well, mainly just members of his lab table, but he doesn't question it. Then the dreaded bell rings and panic sets in full force.

Sonny chuckles as he puts his hand on Will's arm. "So _that's_ what you meant by your job sucking in more ways than one?"

Will furrows his brows, trying to understand what Sonny means. "What?"

"Dude, someone wanted to claim you or something because you have hickeys on your neck." Sonny laughs.

"Are you serious?!" Will takes out his phone and takes a picture of himself to see if Sonny was joking. He wasn't.

"Jesus. They're everywhere."

"Oh, you _so_ need to give me every detail of this story in study hall." Kareem laughs as he walks out of the door with Sonny.

"Not to embarrass you but I also wanna know what happened there." Nick chuckles. "Good luck."

"Will, please come over to my desk so we may talk." Mr. Collins says while erasing the board.

_Here it is, the moment my life is over._

Will gathers his things and slowly approaches Mr. Collins' desk. "Will, I was—" He turns to face Will and pauses when he notices the hickeys. Will feels self conscious so he wraps his scarf around his neck quickly to avoid feeling more awkward. "As I was saying, the card I made the class fill out yesterday with emergency contact information. Yours is empty."

"Oh, I know. I didn't really know who to put." Will shrugs but visibly relaxes when he realizes it was nothing serious.

"Why not add your parents?"

"My dad moved to Japan last December. My mom and her boyfriend are travelling through Europe for business."

"Oh. So you don't have any other family member you can add?"

"Um…I don't know. Maybe my grandpa Roman, even though he's pretty mad at me. Family stuff, you know?"

"Wow, okay. Well, how about we add him anyway because your safety is very important. Surely your grandpa would agree with that."

"I guess."

"Alright, so here's your card again. Please fill it out and you may leave." Will fills out the card, hands the card back and heads for the door but Mr. Collins stops him by grasping his arm. "Will, I'm sorry your situation is tough but if you need to talk, I'm here for you, okay? I don't want it getting in the way of your studies."

"Thank you sir but I'm fine. It's just something I got used to already. Have a great day Mr. Collins!" He gives Will a late pass and Will rushes out of the door to go to the auditorium for study hall.

"Poor kid. No one should ever be used to that." Mr. Collins says under his breath when Will is out of sight.

Will gives the late pass to the teacher and makes his way to the table where Kareem, Nick and Sonny are seated. Kareem pulls Will to sit in the seat next to him and Sonny.

"Tell me everything. First of all, what did hot teacher want?"

"It was nothing important. He just didn't understand my handwriting for that card thing we had to do yesterday." Will lies.

"Boring. Now let's get to the good stuff. Who got you laid last night?" Kareem is practically salivating at the prospect of juicy gossip.

"Someone I met at a club, but I didn't get laid. We were just making out and it got a little carried away. That's all."

"Dammit Will, so much disappointment. The hickeys aren't even dark enough to be from sexy time." Kareem looks away from Will and notices a guy winking at him. "Now, if you'll excuse me, that cutie over there is eye-fucking me right now and it warrants my immediate attention." Kareem leaves.

"So how did things go with Charlie? Did you text him yet?" Nick asks but then notices Will blushing. "Oh. My. God. Charlie did that?"

"N-no." Will avoids eye contact with Nick.

"Liar. So clearly the talk went well." Nick smirks.

"It did but things got complicated."

"Who is Charlie?" Sonny asks.

Will and Nick look at each other, silently debating whether or not to talk about Charlie. Will finally speaks. "If I tell you, you have to promise not to tell Kareem."

"Isn't he your best friend though?"

"Just promise me, Sonny. He can't know," says Will sternly.

"Kareem will get too overprotective because of something that Charlie caused last year and it really hurt Will," Nick interjects.

"You think Charlie caused that? It wasn't him, it was Ruby," says Will.

Nick is blindsided by what Will just said. "How? What does she have to do with what happened?"

"I'm not saying anything until both of you promise not to say anything."

"Okay okay, I promise," says Sonny, thinking it must be something bad for Will to not even include Kareem.

"You already know I wouldn't say anything, Will. Just go ahead with the story," says Nick, encouraging Will to speak freely without having to worry about Kareem.

Will takes a deep breath and prepares to go back to the time he tried to put behind him. "Around October of last year, I dated a girl named Ruby. Things seemed to be good enough between us but she always seemed a little distant. She broke up with me after a month and a half of dating, to be with a guy she liked. Anyway, long story short: I met Charlie at a club in mid December. We lost touch but reconnected a few days later and became fast friends. We were inseparable, but it was pretty obvious we wanted to be more than just friends. At the end of January of this year, Ruby asks to give her another chance but I said no since the guy she left me for, and cheated on me with apparently, got her pregnant and then left her when he found out. Naturally, I told her to go fuck herself and left. Then on Valentine's Day, Charlie and I were in my car, which was parked outside of my apartment. I decided to be ballsy by making the first move and kissing him. It got so heated that we didn't realize Ruby walked by and took a few pictures of us. She knocked on the window and basically gave me an ultimatum: be with her again or she'll out me to the whole school. I told her to go fuck herself and went back to kissing Charlie. He was worried because he didn't want me to get hurt but I told him nothing mattered because he was with me. Of course, she printed the pictures and posted them all over the hallways in school. It was embarrassing and a lot of so called friends turned their back on me. I can't understand why people would turn their back on you based on who you want to date. Anyway, after that incident, I met Kareem and he said he would go after Charlie and hurt him for doing that. I kept telling him that it was Ruby but he is too stubborn to listen so I just let it go and never talked about it."

Nick narrows his eyes. "But you told me it was because he was overly protective."

"It was a half truth. He was protective but I didn't tell you why."

"So why didn't you tell people it was Ruby and not Charlie? Wouldn't that have fixed the problem?" Sonny asks, raising an eyebrow.

"I tried but no one believed me so I stopped caring about what people thought. I knew the truth so that's all that mattered. Eventually people just forgot about it when they found out Ruby was pregnant."

"I'm really sorry that you had to go through such a tough time. I wish I could've been here for you." Sonny says sympathetically.

"Thanks Sonny. I really appreciate that. Now you know why Kareem can't know about Charlie."

Sonny smiles tightly, feeling an unknown sensation wash over him hearing Charlie's name. "Of course. Don't worry, I won't say a word."

"Good because now you both, Ruby and Charlie are the only ones that know the true story. I hope it stays that way." Will says in a warning tone.

The bell rings, signaling the end of study hall so Will and Sonny walk to their final class for the day: gym. The locker room already has a few boys changing into their gym clothes by the time Will and Sonny arrive. Will opts for dressing in one of the stalls, mainly because he wants to avoid broadcasting other possible hickeys. Sonny sits on a bench and slowly begins undressing while sneaking glimpses at a few boys that were nearby. Thankfully, he catches himself and focuses on changing to avoid unnecessary confrontations. _Why am I looking at these guys? I'm straight, dammit. I shouldn't be looking._ Sonny sneaks another glimpse. _Sonny, stop this already! What is wrong with you today? First, you get all weird when Will was talking about Charlie and now this? Get it together, Sonny. You're not gay. You can't be gay. _Sonny shakes his head and quickly finishes getting dressed so he can get out of the locker room as fast as he can. While waiting in the gym for Will, Sonny is approached by Haven.

"You're Sonny, right? Abigail's cousin?"

"Yes, that's me. Why do you wanna know?" asks Sonny, wincing at how badly that sounded. _Wow Kiriakis, really smooth._

"No reason. I just came here to tell you that I think you're cute." Haven blushes, smiling sheepishly.

"You're cute too." Sonny smiles but then mentally kicks himself when he looks over Haven's shoulder to check out the boys in their tight shirts and shorts. _Think Sonny, you need to do damage control right now. You're not gay._ Sonny rips out a piece of paper from his notebook and writes down his number, handing it to Haven. "Here's my number. You should text me some time." Sonny winks at her.

Haven grabs the paper and blushes even more than before. "Thank you. I'll definitely text you later. I'm gonna go with my friends now. See you later, cutie." Haven leaves.

Sonny sighs but nods. _You did good. Self, I'm very proud of you for giving a pretty girl your number. But…why does it feel so wrong?_ Will meets up with Sonny and wait for the teacher to arrive and start the class. Once class is over and both boys are dressed, Will and Sonny leave the building and get into the car.

"So, where do you want me to drop you off?"

"I was hoping you could drop me off at the sports center, if you don't mind. You should come with me."

"I don't mind taking you there. I can't go in though because I have to get ready for work."

Just as Will finishes his thought, Sonny's phone rings, signaling a text.

**Justin:**

Sonny, please come home after school. Your mother and I need to talk to you. It's important. _2:35 PM._

"Actually, just take me home."

"Home? Why?"

"My parents wanna talk about something."


End file.
